Preliminary results about GaPO$_{\bf 4}$ vibrating inertial sensors

Because of its high quality and highly stable mechanical properties, quartz crystal is a well suited material for piezoelectric vibrating inertial sensors. However, a new piezoelectric quartz-homeotypic crystal, gallium orthophosphate (GaPO 4 ) seems today a very promising material for new generation of vibrating sensors. This paper gives the basic relations between material properties and sensors performances, and the expected improvements from using GaPO 4 for vibrating sensors are discussed.