Book excerpt: This book introduces physical effects and fundamentals of piezoelectric sensors and actuators. It gives a comprehensive overview of piezoelectric materials such as quartz crystals and polycrystalline ceramic materials. Different modeling approaches and methods to precisely predict the behavior of piezoelectric devices are described. Furthermore, a simulation-based approach is detailed which enables the reliable characterization of sensor and actuator materials. One focus of the book lies on piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers. An optical approach is presented that allows the quantitative determination of the resulting sound fields. The book also deals with various applications of piezoelectric sensors and actuators. In particular, the studied application areas are · process measurement technology, · ultrasonic imaging, · piezoelectric positioning systems and · piezoelectric motors. The book addresses students, academic as well as industrial reseachers and development engineers who are concerned with piezoelectric sensors and actuators.