Boundary-induced helical bulk acoustic transport in LiNbO3 thin films

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate boundary-induced helical bulk states (BI-HBSs) for RF acoustic transport in LiNbO3 thin-film phononic crystals (approximately 175-200 MHz). A boundary-symmetry selection rule at an accidental Γ-point fourfold degeneracy creates interior bulk channels that couple to wide-aperture interdigital transducers without edge-aperture mismatch. Near-field vibrometry and two-port RF S-parameters confirm low-loss propagation with strongly suppressed backscattering through wavelength-scale defects. The helical band also provides slow-wave, low-dispersion delay and phase control on chip.