Observation of soliton-like envelope modulations generated in an anisotropic quartz plate by metallic interdigital transducers

It is observed that the bulk acoustic wave radiation from interdigital transducers deposited on a quartz crystal plate is dispersive and nonlinear. Pulse instability, pulse narrowing, and pulse splitting suggestive of soliton behavior are reported for 25–100 ns duration pulses from a transducer with a 17.2 μm spatial period on a Y-cut, Z-propagating quartz substrate.