Acoustoelectronics: history, present state, and new ideas for a new era

The application of high frequency acoustic devices to enhance electronics saw an extraordinary growth in Eastern and Western countries in the sixties and seventies. A major impetus for these developments was the tension existing between the Eastern Soviet Block countries and the Western Allies. Government military spending on both sides provided funding to explore new acoustoelectronic concepts in universities, institutes, and major defense companies. Direct exchange of visits between scientists and engineers of East and West was limited until the 1980´s when travel restrictions were lifted on both sides, and author names in the open literature became face-to-face contacts and exchanges at conferences of mutual interest. This paper explores the major acoustoelectronic developments of the sixties and seventies from an East and West perspective. This resulted in a new era of cooperative work between east and west and a large number of device applications now seen in electronic systems around the world today.