Guided Acoustic Waves Propagating at Surfaces, Interfaces and Edges

Surface and interface acoustic waves are two-dimensionally guided waves, as their displacement field is plane-wave like regarding its dependence on the spatial coordinates parallel to the guiding plane, while it decays exponentially along the axis normal to that plane. When propagating at the planar surface or interface of homogeneous media, they are non-dispersive. Another type of non-dispersive acoustic waves which is, however, one-dimensionally guided, has displacement fields localized near the apex of a wedge made of an elastic material. In this short review, their propagation properties are described as well as theoretical and experimental methods which have been used for their analysis. Experimental findings are discussed in comparison with corresponding theoretical work and potential applications of this fascinating type of acoustic waves are presented.