Arbitrarily Configurable Group Delay in Acoustic Devices

We report a novel surface acoustic wave architecture that realizes arbitrarily configurable group delay profiles over wide passbands using skewed chirped acoustic delay lines. By exploiting the frequency–position mapping introduced by the chirp, propagation length is independently controlled for each frequency, directly configuring the group delay. The skewed delay line geometry maps frequency predominantly along the transverse direction, enabling synthesis of the desired delay by modulating the separation between input and output IDTs. A general procedure is outlined to convert an arbitrary target group delay function into a skewed chirped device and several distinct profiles are demonstrated. Measured responses confirm accurate tracking of the intended group delay profiles while preserving the compact footprint of SAW delay lines. The proposed framework extends skewed chirped IDT architectures from fixed group delay to a programmable solution for realizing arbitrary group delay profiles.