Temperature-dependent acoustic loss at microwave frequencies in thin-film lithium niobate

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Lin, Qixuan, Yu, Yue, Guedeja-Marrón, Alejandra, Scolnic, Catalina, Deng, Haoqin, Fang, Shucheng, Zhou, Yibing, Li, Bingzhao, Idrobo, Juan Carlos, Li, Mo
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Lin, Qixuan
Yu, Yue
Guedeja-Marrón, Alejandra
Scolnic, Catalina
Deng, Haoqin
Fang, Shucheng
Zhou, Yibing
Li, Bingzhao
Idrobo, Juan Carlos
Li, Mo
author_facet Lin, Qixuan
Yu, Yue
Guedeja-Marrón, Alejandra
Scolnic, Catalina
Deng, Haoqin
Fang, Shucheng
Zhou, Yibing
Li, Bingzhao
Idrobo, Juan Carlos
Li, Mo
contents Thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) has emerged as a versatile platform for phononic and photonic devices with applications ranging from classical signal processing to quantum technologies. However, acoustic loss fundamentally limits the performance of acoustic devices on TFLN platforms, yet its physical origin remains insufficiently understood. Here, we systematically investigate acoustic propagation loss in various TFLN platforms, including lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI), lithium niobate on sapphire (LNOS), suspended LN thin films, and bulk LN at gigahertz frequencies over temperatures ranging from 4 K to above room temperature. Using a delay-line method, we extract frequency- and temperature-dependent losses for Rayleigh, shear-horizontal, and Lamb modes. We observe an anomalous non-monotonic temperature dependence in LNOI that closely resembles acoustic loss in amorphous materials, indicating a dominant loss channel associated with the buried oxide layer at low temperatures. At elevated temperatures, the loss converges to the Akhiezer damping governed by phonon-phonon interactions. High-resolution electron microscopy further reveals nanoscale interfacial crystal impurities that may contribute to the increased acoustic loss in TFLN platforms relative to bulk LN. These results elucidate the acoustic loss mechanisms in TFLN and provide guidelines for designing low-loss acoustic devices.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_02797
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Temperature-dependent acoustic loss at microwave frequencies in thin-film lithium niobate
Lin, Qixuan
Yu, Yue
Guedeja-Marrón, Alejandra
Scolnic, Catalina
Deng, Haoqin
Fang, Shucheng
Zhou, Yibing
Li, Bingzhao
Idrobo, Juan Carlos
Li, Mo
Applied Physics
Thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) has emerged as a versatile platform for phononic and photonic devices with applications ranging from classical signal processing to quantum technologies. However, acoustic loss fundamentally limits the performance of acoustic devices on TFLN platforms, yet its physical origin remains insufficiently understood. Here, we systematically investigate acoustic propagation loss in various TFLN platforms, including lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI), lithium niobate on sapphire (LNOS), suspended LN thin films, and bulk LN at gigahertz frequencies over temperatures ranging from 4 K to above room temperature. Using a delay-line method, we extract frequency- and temperature-dependent losses for Rayleigh, shear-horizontal, and Lamb modes. We observe an anomalous non-monotonic temperature dependence in LNOI that closely resembles acoustic loss in amorphous materials, indicating a dominant loss channel associated with the buried oxide layer at low temperatures. At elevated temperatures, the loss converges to the Akhiezer damping governed by phonon-phonon interactions. High-resolution electron microscopy further reveals nanoscale interfacial crystal impurities that may contribute to the increased acoustic loss in TFLN platforms relative to bulk LN. These results elucidate the acoustic loss mechanisms in TFLN and provide guidelines for designing low-loss acoustic devices.
title Temperature-dependent acoustic loss at microwave frequencies in thin-film lithium niobate
topic Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.02797