J. Phys. Chem. Solids Pergamon Press 1970. Vol. 3 1, pp. 1657-l 667. Printed in Great Britain.

ELECTROMAGNETIC GENERATION OF
ULTRASONIC WAVES IN METALS
E. ROLAND DOBBS
Department of Physics, University of Lancaster, Lancaster, England

(Received 25 October 1969)

Ahstract-The discovery, early development and theory of the electromagnetic generation of pure
shear and quasicompressional ultrasonic waves in metals is reviewed. It is shown that the four equa-
tions of Quinn lead to a satisfactory explanation of the periodic ionic displacements excited electro-
magnetically in metals in the presence of a static magnetic field over a wide range of temperature,
frequency and magnetic field. Recent measurements of resonant effects found in directly generated
shear waves in bismuth at helium temperatures are described. The giant quantum oscillations in the
generated signal have much larger amplitudes than those previously observed in the ultrasonic
attenuation, but similar periods. A low field resonance occurs in the generated signal at lo-50 MHz
and 30-70 G, where the magnetic field has a negligible effect on the attenuation. Applications of the
method to the generation of millimetre wave ultrasonics, to the non-destructive testing of metals and
to the study of the solid state are briefly considered.
1. INTRODUCTION and magnetic field large enough to make
THE GENERATION. of ultrasonic waves directly w,~ % 1, where O, = e BJmc is the cyclotron
from electromagnetic currents, without using frequency of the electrons of mass m, charge
a piezoelectric or magnetosrictive transducer, --e and relaxation time T. Thus acoustic
was discovered accidentally in Denmark by shear waves would only be generated under
Saermark and Larsen[l] early in 1967. They conditions for the propagation of helicon
were propagating helicons in an aluminum waves.
crystal at helium temperatures by placing a In the spring of 1967 Houck, Bohm,
small coil on each side of an aluminum disk Maxfield and Wilkins [2] at Cornell University
(the size of a dime), exciting one coil at l-2 made a ‘transducer’ from the new effect
MHz and observing the signal received in the by bonding a metal disk of aluminum to one
second coil as the magnetic field produced by end of a delay rod of quartz and detecting the
a superconducting solenoid around the system shear waves with an AC-cut quartz at the
was increased from lo-40 kG. To their other end. They showed that the ‘transducer’
surprise, sets of acoustic standing waves were would work in a non-resonant mode through
generated corresponding to the diameter and r.f. generation at the surface of the aluminum
thickness of the disk. As these were size- disk over a wide range of magnetic fields.
controlled, they were sharp resonances and Further, they proved that the interaction
the acoustic resonator had a Q larger than 104, producing the shear waves operated at
so that a highly stable frequency source was magnetic fields well away from the ‘cross-
necessary for the observations. The re- over’ point where the phase velocities of the
sonances were superimposed on helicon helicon modes and the shear vibrations
waves and were shown to be helicon- coincide.
acoustic modes. Then I am glad to say Professor Bohm
The conditions for the production of these spent the Summer with us at Lancaster and
shear waves seemed very restrictive: helium with him, Betjemann, Meredith and 1[3]
temperatures, static magnetic field vector showed that the restrictive conditions for the
B0 parallel to the ultrasonic wave vector q production of ultrasonic waves electromagne-
I657
1658 E. ROLAND
tically did not apply at all. The method worked
with ‘low’ magnetic fields when OJ < 1,
it worked when the static field B0 was normal
to q and it even worked at room temperature
in a copper rod from the machine shop! What
was perhaps more surprising was that it
worked just as well at 10 MHz in an alumi-
num rod at room temperature as it did in an
aluminum single crystal at helium tempera-
tures. Evidently it was a classical effect and
we concluded that the Lorentz force on the
electronic current in the skin depth was
responsible for the generation.
Before describing our experiments I must
mention the interesting result of Abeles[4],
who showed that at 9.3 GHz electromagnetic
generation and detection of shear waves was
possible in the absence of a static magnetic
field in a very clean, thin film of indium,
evaporated on to an optically polished surface
of a crystal rod of pure germanium, and placed
in a microwave cavity at helium temperatures.
The minimum conditions for electromagnetic
generation of ultrasonic waves in metals are
evidently either helium temperatures and no
magnetic field or a steady magnetic field (of
a few kilogauss in practice) at any tempera-
ture.
2. EXPERIMENTAL
The experimental arrangement we have
used for making measurements on the
electromagnetic generation of shear waves
is shown in outline in Fig. 1. A conventional
pulsed ultrasonic system operating at 10 or
15 MHz drives a small, flattened coil placed
close to the plane face of a cylindrical metal
sample, so than an r.f. magnetic field is genera-
ted at the surface of the metal. When a static,
solenoidal field B, of a few kilogauss was
applied to the sample from an external magnet,
a shear wave was excited at the metal surface
within the electromagnetic skin depth. The
sample geometry ensures that at megahertz
frequencies, where the acoustic wavelength
is much less than the diameter of the rod,
a plane wave propagates normal to the flat
DOBBS
1:;:or
_yigl-+Jf~@~
Fig. 1. Experimental arrangement for observing the
direct generation of ultrasonic shear waves at the surface
of a cylindrical metal rod in a solenoidal field BO.
face along the cylindrical axis Oz. The
delayed output from a suitable quartz trans-
ducer bonded to the other flat face was then
amplified and displayed. The sensitivity
of this coil-resonant transducer system was
such that in a field of 10 kG the signal to noise
ratio was about 50: 1 for room temperature
measurements in a tin crystal. This was
substantially greater than using a coil-coil
system and so was preferred for the early
experiments.
The polarization of the generated sound
wave was found to depend on the relative
orientation of the propagation direction q
and the static field B,,. In Fig. 2(a) with the
helicon geometry the ionic motion was
5, and so a shear wave was propagated and
detected by a suitably oriented AC-cut
quartz. No compressional wave was detected
when the AC-cut quartz was replaced by an
X-cut. However, when the system was
placed in an electromagnet with B,,normal
to q and parallel to the applied r.f. field B, as
shown in Fig. 2(b), a compressional wave
was detected with the X-cut quartz. With
this geometry, shear waves were also genera-
ted when the AC-cut quartz was oriented to
detect 4,.
To verify that the shear waves have a
preferred polarization direction in the helicon
geometry, we studied the signal amplitude as
the coil was rotated- this was easy at room
temperature -about Oz. Using a long tin
sample, maximum amplitude was recorded
when the coil was parallel to Ox and zero
amplitude when it was perpendicular to Ox,
as expected. The effect on the amplitude
A, of the compressional signal of rotating B
in the plane of the surface of the sample,
with B, fixed along Ox, is shown in Fig. 3.
 ELECTROMAGNETIC GENERATION OF ULTRASONIC WAVES IN METALS 1659

---_ Metal, =Ne

Fig. 2. Sample, coil and magnetic field orientations for generating and detecting
ultrasonic waves. (Upper) Shear waves, (Lower) quasi-compressional waves.

B is parallel to Oy, 5, and &, are coupled via

Fig. 3. Cosine variation of signal amplitude A, as B is
rotated about Oz with B, fixed. Maximum signal for
B parallel to Be
When B is parallel to Ox, 4, and &, are
coupled to each other via the Lorentz force
on the ions
W&B
cst O
where Ze is the ionic charge and 6 the ionic
displacement vector+ producing both com-
pressional and shear waves, as shown by
Meredith, Watts-Tobin and Dobbs [5]. When
the Lorentz force, but as neither is coupled to
B, no sound waves are generated with this
geometry. For intermediate orientations, the
signal amplitude A, is seen to fit closely the
expected cosine variation.
Houck et al. [2] showed that the amplitude
of the generated shear wave was proportional
to B, up to 50 kG at helium temperatures. We
extended their measurements to 110 kG and
to 77K (Fig. 4) in niobium. The generation
appeared to be saturating at high fields
at 77 K, but the magnetic attenuation was not
negligible at these high fields. By observing
successive ethos, a correction was made for
the absorption in the sample, and the genera-
ted signal was then found to be linear in B,.
The increase in signal strength is striking:
at 100 kG the signal-noise ratio was about
500! The absorption in the magnetic field
was measured directly (Fig. 5) and found to be
proportional to Bo2, in agreement with that
calculated by Alpher and Rubin[6].
Thomas, Turner and Bohm[7] have
observed the electromagnetic generation of
shear waves in the presence of a magnetic
field up to 500 MHz and it is reasonable to
1660 E. ROLAND DOBBS

Meredith et al. [5] found that the generated

signal (but not, of course, the attenuation)
was inversely proportional to the bulk density
d of the sample. After correcting for different
transducer efficiencies, the efficiency of
generation in aluminum was shown to be
three times greater than in tin, as would be
expected from the relative density of the two
metals. Gaerttner, Wallace and Maxfield
[9] have confirmed this density dependence
Mctgwtr Field Bo (kG) (the factor is actually &, where st is the
Fig. 4. Signal amplitude As in Nb (11 1) at 77 K, including velocity of sound) for metals with densities as
correction for absorption. low as 1.74 (Mg) and as high as 19.3 (W).
They have also shown that the efficiency of
I generation at room temperature falls off at
Nb 1111) Run9 /
1.2 -
T- TPK ;o frequencies above 10 MHz, when the acoustic
o Fimt Echo P’ wavelength h is no longer large compared
x Third Echo I
C, Fifth Echo
1’ I\
with the skin depth 6, that is, when @”+ 1,
I
--- Thlmret*al Line
If 0
where p = 27?(iYh)*.
Y = 10 MHz

3. THEORETICAL
/’ u
o/= A At the same time as we[3] published our
Oi preliminary results, Quinn [ IO] published, as
o /&A
Ii he put it, the ‘four equations which describe
O/A
completely the physics of the problem in
the general case’. The problem is to find wave
solutions of the ionic displacements e given
by
‘II
0 O 5=&expi(ot-q.r).
20 LO 60 90 100
Mqnctic Fiatd 9,~ IkG)

Fig. 5. Change in relative attenuation of shear waves in Following Mattis and Dresselhaus [ 1 l] the
Nb (I 11) at 77 K as a function of magnetic field B,. metal sample is considered to occupy the
half-space z > 0, and to conserve electrons
expect that compressional waves could we suppose that its mirror image occupies
similarly be generated by ultra high frequen- the half-space z < 0. This is equivalent to
cies. Thomas et al. also used two identical assuming that the conduction electrons are
pairs of Helmholtz coils, arranged to have reflected specularly at the surface, which is
their axes mutually orthogonal and lying in the simple, and satisfactory when the electronic
plane of the surface, to produce both left-hand mean free path is much less than the acoustic
and right-hand, circularly polarized, 10 MHz wavelength. It can then be shown[5,1 l]
waves at 4.2 and 77 K in an aluminum rod. that the total electric current J is the sum of
Such circular modes cannot easily be genera- the ionic current n,e&, the electronic current
ted with quartz transducers, although j, and the fictitious surface current jo, so that
Einspruch [8] has proposed a generator based
on a quarter-wave plate. J = in,ew5+ j,+ j, (1)
 ELECTROMAGNETIC GENERATION OF ULTRASONIC WAVES IN METALS 1661

where there are IZ,,conduction electrons per where C1 and C, are elastic moduli for
unit volume. compressional and shear waves associated
Maxwell’s equations [ 10, 121 may be with the short range forces between ions and
written in the form the last two terms are the collision drag force.
The wave solution &I) in the bulk metal
J(q,o) = I-‘. E(q,o) (2) required is found for each geometry by
eliminating J, E and j, between the four
where the electric conductivity tensor I equations. The simplest solution, for the
is given by helicon geometry, was given by Quinn

r&d = - -Zeo (1 -a&) R’ =

jok(q), $ (5)
Mu0 f(wo)
For either of the geometries in Fig. 2 this where
reduces [5] to a simple function of paO, where
/3 is the skin depth parameter already defined f(q,o) = (w2- stq2 +!&+)(o - iaR&)
and co is the static conductivity, equal to + (iZm2/M7)( 1 - i/3)(1 -a&) (6)
no&/m in the relaxation-time approximation.
The electronic transport equation of Cohen, is familiar from helicon-phonon interaction
Harrison and Harrison[ 131 may be written studies. Thus Quinn showed that these four
in the form [ IO] equations led to the generation of ultrasonic
waves through the helicon-phonon interaction
je(q,u) = o(qto) . W(q,o) - Gmlm)S(q)l in the skin depth of the metal.
+noeD.q(q.O At Lancaster we[5] applied the Quinn
(3)
equations to our results on aluminum and
where q = (O,O,q) in the simple cases, found, at low frequencies where qf 6 1(1=
o(q,w) is the electronic magneto-conductivity electronic mean free path) and OT * 1, the
tensor, D = (2+/3e2no) (1 + io~)-l, u is the ionic displacement amplitudes associated with
diffusion tensor, and +. is the Fermi energy. both the phononlike and the plasmonlike
As Quinn[ lo] has pointed out the electronic excitations of the uncoupled system, that is,
current is composed of three terms: the well away from the helicon-phonon cross-
conduction current, the collison drag current over. We were able to show that the same
and the diffusion current. In the helicon geo- equations gave the correct attenuation at
metry the diffusion current vanishes and high and low temperatures, as well as the
equation (3) becomes simply correct generation over a wide range of W,T.
In particular for shear waves generated as in
j&4) = cr,(q,o) [E,(q) - (imwled5dq)l Fig. 2(a) at high temperatures
iB$(z = 0 +)e io[t-fZ/~Jle-~Z
where the transverse components are given
&czJ) =
by E, = E, -+ iE,, etc. hrdsto[ 1 - (ic2f.d477s~u0)] (7)
The fourth and final equation given by
where
Quinn is the equation of motion of the ions
c4f-l 202
&f!%- - Cl grad div f - Ct curl curl e + ZeE 4”= 87rst5n,%,[l +c(czw/4?Ts~oo)21’ (8)
at2
a, is the ionic cyclotron frequency = ZeB,l
MC for ions of mass M and charge Ze and
KIP is the ionic plasma frequency given by
I662 E. ROLAND
fiP2 = 4?rn~e2/M. The amplitude of the
generated signal is seen in (7) to be propor-
tional to B, and inversely proportional to
&, as found experimentally. The attenuation
is shown in (8) to increase as Bo2 and this
expression was used to obtain the theoretical
line in Fig. 5, where it agrees with the data on
niobium at 77 K.
At helium temperatures the conductivity
o0 is high and the magnetic attenuation is
negligible (when ql < l), so that the generated
signal is approximately
Experimentally this has been verified in tin
and niobium[5] crystals in fields up to 110
kG and in gold and aluminum[7] crystals up
to 150 kG.
An analysis of the generation in the absence
of a magnetic field observed by Abeles[4]
has been given by Southgate[ 141. He shows
that in the case of a very clean, thin film the
difuse reflection of the electrons at its
surfaces can produce the generation observed
in the high frequency, anomalous limit. But
it falls off as d/l(d = thickness), so that
thick samples are not satisfactory. In fact at
very high frequencies (above 40GHz) a of the stringent selection rules that must be
multilayer film, of alternate layers of long and
short mean free path, is calculated to be the
most efficient. A recent paper by Alig[ 151
confirms Southgate’s result that all the
generation takes place within the skin depth
and shows. .for shear waves, that in the
presence of a magnetic field B, the power
generated is proportional to B,*.
4. BISMUTH
As well as classical effects, it is of interest
to study quantum effects in metals through
measurements of directly generated acoustic
waves. In the helicon geometry, giant quantum
oscillations [ 161 are known to be observed in a
few metals having reasonable values of their
fundamental period
DOBBS
(9)
where m, is the cyclotron mass associated
with the electron orbits about B,. For bismuth
with B, along the binary axis the fundamental
is about & kG-’ so that the giant oscillations
in the acoustic attenuation are readily
observed[l7-201. Thomas, Hsu and I[211
have recently seen for the first time similar
giant quantum oscillations in directly genera-
ted shear waves in bismuth at helium tem-
peratures and at 10 MHz, using a super-
conducting solenoid.
In the presence of a magnetic field B. the
energy states of the conduction electrons are
given by
E = <n+_4) “tic+ “*kz2/2m* +-4y “0, (10)
where 12is an integer numbering the Landau
level, k, is the component of electron wave
vector in the direction of Bo, m* is the
effective mass, y = jg*m,lm and g* is the
effective g-factor for the Zeeman splitting of
the spin states. Under certain assumptions,
Cohen and Blount[22] have shown that
]y ( = 1. Toxen and Tansal [ 171 have shown
that the giant oscillations are a consequence
satisfied when an acoustic phonon is adsorbed
by a conduction electron. In particular the
only electrons that can absorb a phonon
without changing Landau levels (An = 0),
while conserving energy and momentum, are
those electrons drifting in phase with the
phonon. The electrons that are available to
make such transitions are, of course, limited
to those near the Fermi level +, which at a
finite temperature is broadened by about kT.
In Fig. 6 we show the energy levels given
by (lo), neglecting the parabolic term in
k,, which is very small compared with eF
for those electrons that interact. When the
magnetic field is large (hoe s kT) the Landau
levels are sharp and widely spaced. The
ultrasonic attenuation only exhibits the
 ELECTROMAGNETIC GENERATION OF ULTRASONIC WAVES IN METALS 1663

high fields, the oscillations show the spin-

d changes, as can be seen in Fig. 9 for the giant
5 10 15
Magnetr Field (kG)
Fig. 6. The energy of the electrons increases continuously
with magnetic field, but the ultrasonic attenuation only
exhibits giant quantum oscillations when a Landau level
coincides with the Fermi level E#. At high fields and at
helium temperatures the spin-splitting of the Landau
levels in bismuth is greater than their thermal broadening
and a double oscillation is observed.
oscillations (shown along the abscissa) when
Z?,,is such that a Landau level is intersecting
the Fermi level. For a wide range of field
(e.g. 8-12 kG) the attenuation is independent
of B,, since there are no conduction electrons
available to absorb the sound! At sufficiently
splitting of the Landau levels and the y values
can be measured [ 181.
We have observed (Fig. 7) the giant
quantum oscillations in both the attenuation
(upper trace), plotted as change in pulse-
height of the signal, and in the generated
signals (lower trace). It is interesting to note
that the peaks do not occur at exactly the
same fields in each case, but the measured
periods (Fig. 8) for both fast and slow shear
oscillations are seen to have the same period
as those from the attenuation minima.
However, the generated signals were an
order of magnitude larger than the attenuation
oscillation corresponding to the highest field
Landau level. Here the generated signal is
corrected for the small absorption (maximum
of 4 dB) in the transit of the sample to the
receiver (Fig. 1). For this sample at 10
MHz and l-3 K, ql- 10, WJ > 10 and p -
O-3. Although we could see the giant oscilla-
tions in the attenuation quite easily at 50
MHz, we were unable to observe the genera-
ted signals at higher frequencies, perhaps
because the etched surface of our sample was
not sufficiently clean and flat.
In looking at the generation at lower magne-
tic fields using a copper solenoid, we found a

Fig. 7. The upper trace shows the giant quantum oscillations

in the absorption of sound in a bismuth crystal and the lower
trace the corresponding oscillation in the electromagnetically
generated signals. (Arbitrary amplitudes, not to same
vertical scale for each trace).
1664 E. ROLAND DOBBS

surprising result, which we have not yet

fully understood. At a particular low field-
less than 100 G -there is a resonance giving
300 an enormous signal. In Fig. 10(a) at 30 G the
slow shear resonance is at its peak (marked),
in (b) at 10 G it has nearly disappeared. The
250 fast shear resonance is at a higher field, so
6
I!!.&-
that the fast shear signals are seen below their

200

150

0 Slow Sear Genemtloil

0 Fast Shear Generation
100
tllllld
(a)

Fig. 8. Periodicity in the reciprocal of the magnetic field

for three sets of giant quantum oscillations in bismuth.
Pulse-height minima in the attenuation readings and
maxima in the generated signals have the same period,
7.0 x W5G-‘.

(b)
Fig. 10. Ultrasonic signals seen in bismuth at helium
temperatures with low magnetic fields, using the experi-
mental arrangement of Fig. 1. (a) At 30 G the large slow
shear resonance marked at 7’ produces its own reflection
at 37’. Also present are the fast shear signal at t and its
two reflections at 3t and 5r, off resonance, and a piezo-
electric signal at 27’ from the quartz transducer. (b)
At 10 G the slow shear signal is OK resonance, the fast
shear signals have disappeared, but the piezoetectric
signal (marked) is unchanged, since there is a negligible
change in the attenuation with magnetic field.

resonant amplitude in (a) and have dis-

Fig. 9. Giant quantum oscillation of the directly generated,
10 MHz acoustic shear waves in bismuth at 1.3 K-signal
observed at detector, O-O signal corrected for fieid-
dependent attenuation in the sample.
appeared in (b). The signal that does not
change with B, marked in (b), is generated by
electromagnetic coupling to the quartz detec-
tor (seen also as a saturating pulse at t = 0)
and is unchanged in amplitude because the
magnetic attenuation is negligible, although
the generation is strongly field dependent.
The resonances for slow shear generation
at 4.2 K (Fig. 11) and for slow and fast shear
generation at 1.5 K ( Fig. 12) are seen to begin
 ELECTROMAGNETIC GENERATION OF ULTRASONIC WAVES IN METALS 1665

Bknwth: %w Shea-, 4.2 K the simple theory[5] of plane shear waves in

an isotropic metal. A different solution of the
Quinn equations is probably required.
It is evident from these preliminary results
that the study of the electromagnetic genera-
tion of acoustic phonons in metals and semi-
metals at helium temperatures provides an
important new method of investigation of the
electronic properties of solids, which should
show any variation in these properties
between the bulk metal and its surface.
10 20 50 100 200 500 1000
8, (Gauss)
5. APPLICATIONS
Fig. 11. Amplitudes of the directly generated slow shear Besides its wide application in solid state
signals in bismuth at 4.2 K. 0, 10.9 MHz; B,,, = 30 G; physics, the technique of electromagnetic
A, 31.8 MHz; B,,, = 47 G ; W,49.3 MHz; B,,, = 71 G.
generation can be applied to the non-destruc-
tive testing of metals and to the generation
of microsound at millimetre wave frequencies.
-9 At frequencies of l-10 MHz transducers of
-8 quartz or barium titanate are commonly used
-7 and these have to be bonded to the sample
-6 under test with a suitable liquid, grease or
-5 epoxy resin. For measurements at very high
-4 or very low temperatures bonding can be a
-3 problem, while the ‘ringing in’ of transducers
-2
can easily damage very pure crystals, so that
2 1
the ‘bondless’ transducer of Fig. 1 is attractive.
I I. 1 Here the r.f. coil is quite small and need not
12 5 10 20 50 100 200 500 1000
Eio(Gmss)
touch the sample, although it must be quite
close to the sample. The acoustic signal
Fig. 12. Amplitudes of the directly generated shear
sianals in bismuth at 11.4 MHz and 1.5 K. 0. Slow shear: strength generated by the coil in the presence
B max= 30 G; 0, Fast shear; B,,, = jl G. of the magnetic field B, depends also on the
strength of r.f. field B (equation (37)). For
at very low fields and to disappear at a few convenience a small flat coil has been used
hundred gauss, before the first of the quantum in many experiments and the r.f. field B
oscillations (Fig. 7) begins to appear. A is then only the fringing field. The effect of
comparison of Figs. 9, 11 and 12 shows that moving such a coil away from the surface of
the low field resonance had a similar amplitude the sample is shown in Fig. 13, where the
to the largest quantum oscillation at 10 MHz. fringing field is seen to fall off exponentially
The resonance peakB,,, moves to higher with distance and so give on this logarithmic
fields (Fig. 11) as the frequency o is, increased plot an ‘apparent attenuation’ of 180 dB
with B,,,- cull2 and also as the velocity is cm-‘. Clearly the coil should be within O-2
increased (Fig. 12) with B,,, - st. It dis- mm or 0408in. of the aluminum surface if
appears on warming to 77 K. It is clear that less than 3 dB of generated signal is to be lost.
the resonance is associated with electronic A more efficient coil system has recently
currents within the skin depth of the crystal, been devised by Legg and Meredith[23]
but its appearance cannot be explained by for non-destructive testing. It consists of
1666 E. ROLAND DOBBS

Fig. 13. The loss in amplitude of the directly generated

shear signal in an aluminum crystal at 1OOK as the
generating coil was displaced up to 1 mm from the
aluminum surface. Tbe ‘apparent attenuation’ of 18 dB Fig. 14. The experimental arrangement for detecting an
mm-r is due to the exponentiai decrease of the induced artificiat 8aw in a metal test biock. A permanent magnet
r.f. field B. NS encloses the concentric pair of spirally wound
‘pancake’ coils, which generate and detect the compres-
two concentric, plane coils wound as a flat sional waves without touching the test block.
spiral, (Fig. 14), the outer acting as the
transmitting and the inner as the receiving
coil. A permanent magnet iVS producing
about 4 kG surrounds the coils and provides
a field B, parallel to part of the radial r.f.
field B, thus generating quasicompressional
waves in accordance with Fig. 2(b). Wallace,
Houck, Bowers, Maxfield and Gaerttner
[24] have demonstrated the drastic change of
echo pattern that occurs when directly h
generated shear waves are scattered by a
Fig. 15. Small reflections from the artificial flaw and large
1 mm hole oriented along q. Legg and reflections from the end faces of the test block, using the
Meredith have shown that they can detect arrangement of Fig. 14.
an artificial flaw in a standard test block
(Fig. 14) with directly generated compres- only be done by generation from each end of
sional waves. The resultant echo pattern (Fig. the sample. It is therefore probable that
15) shows both the reduced amplitude (high electromagnetic generation techniques will
apparent attenuation) of the signals from the be limited to special cases such as high speed,
back of the block and small signals from the automatic testing of strip or sheet and
flat end of the ‘flaw’. However, the sensitivity measurements at extreme temperatures,
of detection (at 5 kG) is subs~ntially less where bonding is a problem.
than with conventional techniques and the Abelesl4J has pioneered the generation of
detection of flaws near the surface, which is microwave acoustics in the absence of a static
easy in the usual water bath technique, can field in very clean, thin films. Southgate [ 141
 ELECTROMAGNETIC GENERATION OF ULTRASONIC WAVES IN METALS 1667

has shown that for frequencies above 40 3. BETJEMANN A. G., BOHM H. V., MEREDITH
D. J. and DOBBS E. R., Phys. Lett. 25A, 753 (1967).
GHz this technique, or a modification of it
4. ABELES B., Phys. Rev. Lett. 19, 1181, (1967).
using multilayer transducers, may be the most 5. MEREDITH D. J., WATTS-TOBIN R. J. and
efficient way of producing sound from DOBBS E. R..J. acoust. Sot. Am. 45.1393 (1969).
millimetre wavelength electromagnetic waves. 6. ALPHER R. ‘A. and RUBIN R. J.,‘J. acoust. sot.
Am. 26,452 (1954).
Perhaps this technique will be used to 7. THOMAS R. L., TURNER G. and BOHM H. V.,
generate phonons at thermal frequencies. Phys. Rev. Lett. 20,207 (1968).
8. EINSPRUCH, N., J. acoust. Sot. Am. 36, 971
In conclusion I would like to emphasize ( 1964).
that most of the effects that have been 9. GAERTTNER M. R., WALLACE W. D. and
studied in the past by measuring small changes MAXFlELD B. W., Phys. Rev. 184,702 (1969).
10. QUINN J. J., Phys. Lett. 25A, 522 (1967).
in ultrasonic attenuation could well be
11. MATTIS D. C. and DRESSELHAUS G., Phys.
dramatically enhanced in the electromagne- Rev. 111,403 (1958).
tically generated signals, as we have found in 12. RODRIGUEZ S.. Phvs. Rev. 130, 1778 (1963).
the giant quantum oscillations in bismuth. 13. COHEN M. H., HARRISON M. J. and HARRI-
SON W. A. Phys. Rev. 117,937 (1960).
Although a static magnetic field is required 14. SOUTHGATE P. D., J. appl. Phys. 40, 22 (1969).
at room temperature, several authors [4, 15. ALIG C. R., Phys. Rev. 178,105O (1969).
16. GUREVICH V. L., SKOBOV V. G. and FIRSOV
25,261 have shown that this is not necessary Yu. A., Zh. eksp. teor. Fiz. 40,786 (1961).
at helium temperatures in pure metals. There 17. TOXEN A. M. and TANSAL S., Phys. Rev. 137A,
are thus many interesting possibilities for 211 (1965).
further studies on solids. 18. MASE S.. FUJIMOVI Y. and MAR1 H., J. .whys. .
Soc.JapanZl, 1744(1966).
19. KOROLYUK A. P.. Zh. eksv. teor. Fiz. 51. 697
Acknowledgements-It gives me much pleasure to thank (1966); English transl. Soviet ‘Phys. JET; 24; 461
Professor C. Elbaum for inviting me to present this (1967).
paper at Brown University, Rhode Island. It was written 20. GUIRA M., MARCON R., PAPA T. and WAN-
while the author was a summer visitor at the Department DERLINGH F.. Phvs. Rev. 179.645 (1969).
of Physics, Wayne State University, and it is a pleasure 21. DOBBS E. R.,’ THOMAS Rl L. and ‘HSU D.
to thank Dr. R. L. Thomas and D. Hsu for their collabora- Phys. Lett. 30A, 338 (1969).
tion on the measurements in bismuth, Dr. G. Turner and 22. COHEN M. H. and BLOUNT E. I., Phil. Mag.
Dr. N. Tepley for helpful discussions and Vice-President 5, 115 (1960).
H. V. Bohm for the invitation to Detroit. My thanks are 23. LEGG K. 0. and MEREDITH D. J., (To be
also due to Dr. D. J. Meredith and K. 0. Legg for kindly published.)
supplying me with details of their recent experiments at 24. WALLACE w. D., HOUCK J. R., BOWERS R.,
Lancaster prior to publication. MAXFIELD B. W. and GAERTTNER M. R.
Rev. scient. fnstrum. 39,1863 (1968).
REFERENCES 25. WALLACE W. D., GAERTTNER M. R. and
1. SAERMARK K. and LARSEN P. K., Phys. Lett. MAXFIELD B. W., Bull. Am. phys. Sot. 14, 64
24A, 374 and 668 (1967). ( 1969).
2. HOUCK J. R., BOHM H. V., MAXFIELD B. W. 26. THOMAS R. L., TURNER G. and HSU D., Phys.
and WILKINS J. W., Phys. Rev. Lett. 19,224 (1967). Lett. 30A, 3 16 (1969).