Losses in high quality quartz crystal resonators at cryogenic temperatures

Measurement of the mechanical losses of quartz crystal is a topic of interest for communities dealing with the gravitational wave detectors and also the time and frequency domain. About the latter, the authors describe Q-factor measurements of quartz crystal resonators at cryogenic temperatures under 10 K, thanks to a cryocooler-based experimental set-up. A Q-factor of 325 millions at 4 K, on the fifth overtone of the quasilongitudinal mode at 15.9 MHz, has been recorded. As shown, the acoustic wave trapping is suspected to limit the Landau-Rumer regime below 6 K [Landau and Rumer, Phys. Z. Sowjetunion 11, 18 (1937)]. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3559611]