Principle and Application of Ball SAW Devices

A thin beam of wave usually diverges due to diffraction, which is a limitation of any device using such waves. However, a surface acoustic wave (SAW) on a sphere with an appropriate aperture does not diverge but is collimated, realizing ultramultiple roundtrips along an equator of the sphere. This effect is caused by the balance between diffraction and focusing on a spherical surface, and it enables realization of high-performance ball SAW sensors.