Electrical Control of Surface Acoustic Waves

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates electrical control of surface acoustic waves on a lithium niobate platform, enabling dynamic modulation, frequency shifting, and nonreciprocal behavior crucial for scalable phononic quantum information processing.

Contribution

It introduces an integrated electro-acoustic platform capable of controlling acoustic waves electrically at both room and cryogenic temperatures, advancing phononic circuit development.

Findings

Achieved phase and amplitude modulation of acoustic waves.

Demonstrated an acoustic frequency shifter using serrodyne phase modulation.

Implemented reconfigurable nonreciprocal acoustic modulation.

Abstract

Acoustic waves at microwave frequencies have been widely used in wireless communication and recently emerged as versatile information carriers in quantum applications. However, most acoustic devices are passive components, and dynamic control of acoustic waves in a low-loss and scalable manner remains an outstanding challenge, which hinders the development of phononic integrated circuits. Here we demonstrate electrical control of traveling acoustic waves on an integrated lithium niobate platform at both room and millikelvin temperatures. We modulate the phase and amplitude of the acoustic waves and demonstrate an acoustic frequency shifter by serrodyne phase modulation. Furthermore, we show reconfigurable nonreciprocal modulation by tailoring the phase matching between acoustic and quasi-traveling electric fields. Our scalable electro-acoustic platform comprises the fundamental elements for arbitrary acoustic signal processing and manipulation of phononic quantum information.