138 7 Piezo-electric Methods of Generation and Reception

If an arbitrary sonic pressure wave enters a piezo-electric plate, an electric no-

load voltage is produced at its electrodes which is proportional to the area of the
sonic pressure curve of the wave which has already entered. If several waves are
propagated in the plate simultaneously, e.g. by zigzag reflection, their areas are
added with due regard to sign.
The example in Fig. 7.20a shows a square wave which enters a thick plate (dura-
tion of wave shorter than transit time). The area inside the plate (shaded) increases
linearly, and, therefore, also the voltage. It remains constant as long as the whole
wave travels inside the plate. Since it has been assumed that the back of the plate is
matched reflection-free, the wave leaves the plate unimpeded and the voltage,
therefore, again drops to zero.
If the wave is longer, it can fill the plate completely and the voltage reaches a
maximum which persists as long as the plate is filled. Finally, if the wave is very
long compared with the transit time (Fig. 7.20d), it increasingly resembles the vol-
tage curve. Thus, if the back of a piezo-electric plate is matched correctly, and the
thinner the plate, a sound wave can be transformed into a voltage with increasing
faithfulness. In this case, however, the amplitude of the voltage decreases with the
thickness of the plate because the area is reduced.
Within a real crystal the area of the diagrams filled by the wave of course means the vo-
lume.
In practice it is not an easy matter to terminate a piezo-electric plate reflection-
free. If the termination at the back is sonically soft, reflections at this point are pro-
duced with phase reversal. A single, short pulse, therefore, produces an alternating
voltage of decreasing amplitude (Fig. 7.21).
If one reverses the polarity of a piezo-electric plate, the transmitted pulse also
reverses its phase, i.e. it starts with a maximum instead of a minimum of sound
pressure or vice versa. If the same plate also serves as receiver the form of the elec-
tric pulse will be the same in both cases. The effect of polarity therefore is only of
influence if different plates are used.
Finally, Fig. 7.22 shows a case of practical interest calculated by the method de-
scribed; this concerns the transmission from an X-cut quartz plate backed by vul-
canized rubber through water, a similar transducer acting as receiver. The exciting

x-

Fig. 7.21. Reception by a piezo-electric plate with sonically soft termination on both sides, left
Zo/Zj = 2, right ZO/Z2 = 9. Receiving voltage U as a function of time