Analysis of the electro-elastic properties of custom quartz tuning forks for optoacoustic gas sensing

• DOI: 10.1016/j.snb.2015.12.096
• Publication Date: 2016-01-04T01:31:16Z
• Authors: P. Patimisco; A. Sampaolo; L. Dong; M. Giglio; G. Scamarcio; F.K. Tittel; V. Spagnolo
• Keywords: Tuning fork; Crystal (programming language); Q factor

Abstract We report a detailed experimental and theoretical analysis of the influence of quartz tuning fork (QTF) dimensions on the main physical parameters controlling the QTF performance, namely, the quality factor Q , the resonance frequency, the fork stiffness, the spring constant, and the electrical resistance. Two different gold contact patterns were also compared. As a general trend, the QTF performance in terms of Q and electrical conductance values improves at increasing both the crystal thickness T and prong thickness w , while decreasing the prongs length L p . However, since the QTF resonance frequency f 0 is proportional to T / L p 2 , a trade-off should be found in order to keep f 0