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Nano Research 2016, 9(3): 685-691 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0947-z
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 23 December 2015

Controlling the properties of surface acoustic waves using graphene

Show Author's Information Lokeshwar Bandhu,  Geoffrey R. Nash( )
College of EngineeringMathematics and Physical SciencesUniversity of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QFUK
Keywords:
graphene, sensors, charge transport, surface acoustic wave
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Bandhu L, Nash GR. Controlling the properties of surface acoustic waves using graphene. Nano Research, 2016, 9(3): 685-691. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0947-z
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are elastic waves that propagate on the surface of a solid, much like waves on the ocean, with SAW devices used widely in communication and sensing. The ability to dynamically control the properties of SAWs would allow the creation of devices with improved performance or new functionality. However, so far it has proved extremely difficult to develop a practical way of achieving this control. In this paper we demonstrate voltage control of SAWs in a hybrid graphene-lithium niobate device. The velocity shift of the SAWs was measured as the conductivity of the graphene was modulated using an ion-gel gate, with a 0.1% velocity shift achieved for a bias of approximately 1 V. This velocity shift is comparable to that previously achieved in much more complicated hybrid semiconductor devices, and optimization of this approach could therefore lead to a practical, cost-effective voltage-controlled velocity shifter. In addition, the piezoelectric fields associated with the SAW can also be used to trap and transport the charge carriers within the graphene. Uniquely to graphene, we show that the acoustoelectric current in the same device can be reversed, and switched off, using the gate voltage.


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About this article

Controlling the properties of surface acoustic waves using graphene

Show Author's information Lokeshwar Bandhu, Geoffrey R. Nash( )
College of EngineeringMathematics and Physical SciencesUniversity of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QFUK

Abstract

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are elastic waves that propagate on the surface of a solid, much like waves on the ocean, with SAW devices used widely in communication and sensing. The ability to dynamically control the properties of SAWs would allow the creation of devices with improved performance or new functionality. However, so far it has proved extremely difficult to develop a practical way of achieving this control. In this paper we demonstrate voltage control of SAWs in a hybrid graphene-lithium niobate device. The velocity shift of the SAWs was measured as the conductivity of the graphene was modulated using an ion-gel gate, with a 0.1% velocity shift achieved for a bias of approximately 1 V. This velocity shift is comparable to that previously achieved in much more complicated hybrid semiconductor devices, and optimization of this approach could therefore lead to a practical, cost-effective voltage-controlled velocity shifter. In addition, the piezoelectric fields associated with the SAW can also be used to trap and transport the charge carriers within the graphene. Uniquely to graphene, we show that the acoustoelectric current in the same device can be reversed, and switched off, using the gate voltage.

Keywords: graphene, sensors, charge transport, surface acoustic wave

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Publication history

Received: 11 September 2015
Revised: 09 November 2015
Accepted: 16 November 2015
Published: 23 December 2015
Issue date: March 2016

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© The Author(s) 2015

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This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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