Surface acoustic wave electromagnetic transducers from multiconductor flat cable

We describe a new method for making meander-line surface acoustic wave electromagnetic transducers at megahertz frequencies from multiconductor flat cable. Commerically available cable, consisting of uniform patterns of rectangular conductors, is used to fabricate identical transducers with well-characterized electrical and acoustical properties. Also new expressions for the electrical inductance and transduction efficiency of these transducers are presented and compared to measurement for several Rayleigh wave devices. Measured transducer bandwidths agree with a predicted (sinX/X)2 response. Unique features of cable transducers are exploited in novel designs and applications such as precise velocity measurement and crack detection on curved surfaces.