The performance of an AlN/sapphire surface acoustic wave (SAW) delay line device was characterized in real time under irradiation inside a nuclear reactor. Both its resonant frequency and transmission efficiency were observed to respond to a change in reactor power. The response follows an exponentially saturating behavior after a step power increase, followed by an exponentially decaying recovery after reactor shutdown. A sensitivity analysis based on the governing electro-mechanical equations shows that the frequency shift can be attributed to the softening of sapphire’s elastic constants under neutron radiation. A kinetic rate equation is adopted to interpret device response and describe its microstructural evolution. These results suggest that the AlN/sapphire SAW device remains functional under irradiation, is sensitive to neutron and gamma ray fluxes, and offers an opportunity for remote sensing and in-situ measurement of material properties when exposed to nuclear reactor environment.

AlN /蓝宝石表面声波（SAW）延迟线装置的性能在核反应堆内部的辐射下实时表征。观察到其共振频率和传输效率均响应于反应堆功率的变化。在阶跃功率增加后，响应遵循指数饱和行为，然后在反应堆关闭后，响应指数恢复衰减。基于支配的机电方程式的灵敏度分析表明，频移可归因于中子辐射下蓝宝石弹性常数的软化。采用动力学速率方程来解释设备响应并描述其微观结构演变。这些结果表明，AlN /蓝宝石声表面波器件在辐照下仍能正常工作，