Transparent and Ultra-lightweight Design for Ultra-Broadband Asymmetric Transmission of Airborne Sound

Acoustic one-way manipulations have recently attracted significant attention due to the deep implications in many diverse fields such as biomedical imaging and treatment.However,the previous mechanisms of asymmetric manipulation of airborne sound need to use elaborate heavyweight structures and only work in certain frequency ranges.We propose a mechanism for designing an ultra-lightweight and optically transparent structure with asymmetric transmission property for normally incident plane waves.Instead of fabricating solids into complicated artificial structures with limited bandwidth and heavy weight,we simply use xenon to fill a spatial region of asymmetric shape which allows the incident plane wave to pass along one direction while reflecting the reversed wave regardless of frequency.We demonstrate both analytically and numerically its effectiveness of producing highly-asymmetric transmission within an ultra-broad band.Our design offers new possibility for the design of one-way devices and may have far-reaching impact on various scenarios such as noise control.     

声单向操控研究进展

电子二极管的发明标志着现代电子学的诞生, 在整个人类社会中引起了科技的深刻变革. 声波是一种具有非常悠久的研究历史的经典波, 却始终被认为仅具有对称的传播形式. 若能制造出可像电子二极管控制电流般实现声波单向导通的声学器件, 显然将对整个声学研究领域产生重大影响, 具有重要的科学意义及应用价值. 第一个基于非线性媒质与声子晶体的声二极管利用非线性突破声学互易原理的局限, 首次实现了将声能流限制在单一方向上的声整流效应. 针对非线性系统转换效率低下的固有缺陷, 在线性体系内围绕声单向传播这个重要科学问题开展了一系列理论和实验研究, 设计与制备了多种具有特殊结构和性能的线性声学单向结构, 在器件的效率、带宽及尺寸方面产生了突破. 在声二极管研究的基础上, 第一个可以像电子三极管操控电流般对声流进行操控与放大的声三极管理论模型也被提出. 本文介绍了声单向传播这一新兴且富有蓬勃生机的研究领域中的主要进展.     

Experimental demonstration of a three-dimensional omnidirectional and broadband acoustic concentrator using an anisotropic metamaterial

We report the theoretical design and experimental demonstration of a three-dimensional(3D)omnidirectional and broadband metamaterial-based concentrator for airborne sound.The proposed mechanism uses a homogeneous anisotropic acoustic metamaterial with an ellipsoidal equifrequency contour to efficiently redirect the acoustic energy impinging on its outer surface into the central region,regardless of the incident direction.A design of the metamaterial unit cell is proposed as a practical implementation of our strategy,which is simply realized by perforating a solid spherical shell with a linearly shrinking cross section in the radial direction.We analytically and numerically prove that the non-resonant anisotropic effective acoustic parameters required for building the concentrator are produced with such a design.Good agreement is observed between the theoretical predictions and experimental measurements.An effective concentration of the incident acoustic energy is observed within a broadband that ranges 1000-1600 Hz.The experimental realization of this 3D acoustic concentrator with a simple design,low energy loss,replaceable constituent material,and omnidirectional and broadband functionality offers new possibilities for acoustic manipulations and may have important applications in a plethora of scenarios ranging from energy harvesting to noise mitigation.     

矩形波导中宽带非对称声传输

目前已有的非对称性声传输模型大部分局限于二维模式,无法直接应用于三维实际系统,针对这一问题,文中研究了通过内置非对称几何结构来实现声单向传输的三维管道模型。该几何结构体内引入天然材料——氙气,利用氙气与空气两种天然气体折射率的差异以及结构的不对称,实现声波在管道中的非对称传输,即当声波正向入射时,可通过管道内结构到达另一侧;而当反向入射时,声波无法通过内置的非对称结构。理论计算结果和仿真结果表明声波在三维矩形波导管中的非对称声传输效果和结构的厚度相关:当结构厚度较薄时,可在较宽频带范围内实现声波的非对称传输。此外,该矩形波导设计具有结构简单、透明超轻等特点,为设计新型声波非对称传输器件提供了相应的理论参考。      

Acoustic Absorption Characteristics of New Underwater Omnidirectional Absorber

We investigate a new underwater omnidirectional absorber with acoustic black hole effect to realize a broadband omnidirectional acoustic wave absorption. Based on multiple scattering theory, a two-dimensional axisymmetric model of underwater omnidirectional absorber comprised of an acoustic gradient refractive index structure and a hollow core is developed, and the mechanisms of omnidirectional absorption and dissipation of acoustic waves are studied. The numerical results indicate that the omnidirectional absorber developed here can achieve the omnidirectional absorption of incident acoustic waves in a broadband frequency and can effectively reduce the backscattering of acoustic waves. It potentially provides a new notion for underwater acoustic coating design.     

Broadband and broad-angle asymmetric acoustic transmission by unbalanced excitation of surface evanescent waves based on single-layer metasurface

Currently, complicated structure, incident-angle selectivity, and narrow frequency band are the key drawbacks of the asymmetric acoustic transmission (AAT) devices. Here we tackle these problems by proposing a class of single-layer lossy acoustic metasurfaces. The broadband AAT performance is realized in a broad range of incident angles. When the incident angle is in the range between two critical values, which are derived in this paper, an external sound wave can be converted into an evanescent mode, and the total internal reflection occurs for backward sound. The incident sound wave can be negatively refracted for forward sound if the evanescent mode conversion condition is broken, representing the realization of the AAT. However, the AAT phenomenon cannot be observed outside of the range defined above. The proposed design of highly efficient broad-angle AAT can find applications in sound sensing and noise control.     

声学宽带多焦点聚焦

针对声学宽带多焦点聚焦的问题,设计出结构简洁的声学人工结构。通过控制细槽深度,对反射声波的波前进行任意操控。数值仿真结果验证了所设计的声人工结构的聚焦效果。这种人工结构还允许对焦点的相对位置及数目进行精确而自由的调控,当尺寸大于波长的障碍物存在时仍可通过合理设计来产生聚焦效果。该方案具有设计简洁及焦点可控等优点,有望在生物医学及无损检测等场合产生广泛应用。      

Three dimensional multilayered acoustic cloak with homogeneous isotropic materials

A three-dimensional (3D) spherical acoustic cloak is designed using an acoustic layered system, which can hide an object from the detection of acoustic wave in arbitrary direction. The cloak is constructed from multilayered concentric spherical shells filled with homogeneous isotropic materials. Based on spherical wave expansion method, we confirm that significant low-reflection, acoustic-shadow-reducing, and wavefront-bending effects in 3D space can be achieved by the proposed cloak. The angle distribution of the scattered wave is further evaluated by the far-field scattering pattern. In addition, the cloak is demonstrated to work efficiently in a wide bandwidth in which the cloaking efficiency decreases with increasing frequency. This study may be helpful to design high-performance 3D acoustic cloaks for broadband acoustic waves in all incidence directions.     

非均匀波导中的声聚焦

理论研究了声波在非均匀波导中的空间聚焦问题,利用多模态导纳法构建波导内任意位置处声压与入射声压在模态域的映射关系,计算使声波聚焦于空间某位置时的最佳入射波,并画出了相应的聚焦声场.研究了三种非均匀情况:水平变截面波导、含散射体波导以及声速垂直变化波导.结果表明,当输入最佳入射波时,在非均匀波导中可以产生良好的单点或多点声聚焦效果,声波的聚焦过程充分地利用了波导结构及介质非均匀性对声波的散射作用.     

Acoustic skin meta-muffler

The effective elimination of sound energy traveling in open ducts is critical in acoustics, with considerable potential in diverse applications ranging from duct noise control to exhaust system design. However, previous absorber mechanisms are bulky or have limited ventilation or unsatisfactory absorption capability. We propose and experimentally demonstrate the concept of meta-mufflers capable of quasi-perfectly absorbing airborne sound propagating in an open duct while minimizing the influence on airflow because of its vanishing thickness. The mechanism uses coupling among asymmetric metasurfaces to achieve impedance match and subsequent high absorption in a subwavelength scale, which is explained analytically and validated experimentally. The proposed meta-muffler features an uncomplicated design, high attenuation efficiency, and a thickness of nearly two orders of magnitude of wavelength, ensuring the free pass of other entities. Furthermore, our design offers the flexibility of tuning and extending working bandwidth by hybridization of weak resonances. The performance of the proposed muffler is verified via experiments, which correlate excellently with theoretical predictions. The realization of meta-mufflers opens a route to novel acoustic absorbers and could have far-reaching implications in a plethora of important scenarios calling for both perfect sound absorption and open acoustic paths.     

Design for broadband high-efficiency grating couplers

In this Letter, we propose general optimization methods to design broadband high-efficiency grating couplers for planar waveguides. We attribute the coupling bandwidth to the mismatch of effective indices between the diffracted beam and the actual grating structure around the operation wavelength for fiber to waveguide excitation. The coupling bandwidth formula is deduced. A simple parameter-separate optimization procedure is proposed for general layered grating couplers for high coupling efficiency. Using our principle, we optimized a grating coupler for a horizontal slot waveguide operating at wavelength 1.55 μm for TM polarization. The grating coupler has 1 dB bandwidth of 60 nm and coupling efficiency of 65% with incident light from single-mode optical fiber (SMF) at 8°.     

Diffraction of homogeneous and inhomogeneous plane waves on a doubly corrugated liquid/solid interface

This paper extends the theory of the diffraction of sound on 1D corrugated surfaces to 2D corrugated surfaces. Such surfaces, that are egg crate shaped, diffract incoming sound into all polar directions, which is fundamentally different from 1D corrugated surfaces. A theoretical justification is given for extending the classical grating equation to the case of incident inhomogeneous waves, for 1D corrugated surfaces as well as for 2D corrugated surfaces. Even though the present paper presents a theory which is valid for all angles of incidence, special attention is given to the particular case of the stimulation of surface waves by normal incident sound. The most interesting conclusion is that, depending on the frequency and the incident inhomogeneity, Scholte-Stoneley waves and leaky Rayleigh waves can be generated in different directions. This effect might be of particular interest in the development of surface acoustic wave devices and the basic idea of this steering effect can be of importance for planar actuators.     

掩埋目标声散射特性及其实验

基于变分原理建立2D-FE弱形式解模型,针对轴对称掩埋目标进行散射远场的快速、高精度数值计算。入射波垂直于对称轴,给出:掩埋深度不变,以1°为间隔,改变掠射角所得到目标散射声压级相对于垂直海底照射获得结果的差值随频率、掠射角变化的表达式;掠射角不变,以0.1m为间隔,改变掩埋深度得到的散射声压级相对于浅掩埋条件下获得结果的差值随频率、深度变化的表达式。实验结果表明:在回波最强的正横方向,掩埋弹性目标表现出的共振散射特性与在自由场空间中具有相似性,表明了掩埋条件下目标内填充的透射和表面环绕波理论的适用性,验证了大掠射角入射得到散射声压级差值的变化规律。研究成果对宽带、高频入射声波探测更深掩埋目标提供思路。      

Active control of acoustic reflection,absorption, and transmission using thin panel speakers

This paper explores the development of thin panels that can be controlled electronically so as to provide surfaces with desired reflection coefficients. Such panels can be used as either perfect reflectors or absorbers. They can also be designed to be transmission blockers that block the propagation of sound. The development of the control system is based on the use of wave separation algorithms that separate incident sound from reflected sound. In order to obtain a desired reflection coefficient, the reflected sound is controlled to appropriate levels. The incident sound is used as an acoustic reference for feedforward control and has the important property of being isolated from the action of the control system speaker. In order to use a panel as a transmission blocker, the acoustic pressure behind the panel is driven to zero. The use of the incident signal as a reference again plays a key role in successfully reducing broadband transmission of sound. The panels themselves are constructed using poster board and small rare-earth actuators. Detailed experimental results are presented showing the efficacy of the algorithms in achieving real-time control of reflection or transmission. The panels are able to effectively block transmission of broadband sound. Practical applications for these panels include enclosures for noisy machinery, noise-absorbing wallpaper, the development of sound walls, and the development of noise-blocking glass windows.     

A sonic crystal diode implementation with a triangular scatterer matrix

This paper investigates a nonreciprocal sound transmission effect provided by a triangular lattice two-dimensional sonic crystal made of rods in a triangular cross-section. This sonic crystal (SC) device works as a frequency selective acoustic diode operating at a frequency of 8950 Hz. The scatterer matrix of the sonic crystal diode prototype was composed of triangular shaped wood rods that break the symmetry of the spatial inversion and provide nonreciprocal wave transmission with a contrast rate of 89% in experiments. This acoustic diode device can provide a high contrast, narrow band, one-way sound transmission for acoustic wave control applications.     

Broadband low-frequency acoustic absorber based on metaporous composite

Broadband absorption of low-frequency sound waves via a deep subwavelength structure is of great and ongoing interest in research and engineering. Here, we numerically and experimentally present a design of a broadband low-frequency absorber based on an acoustic metaporous composite (AMC). The AMC absorber is constructed by embedding a single metamaterial resonator into a porous layer. The finite element simulations show that a high absorption (absorptance A>0.8) can be achieved within a broad frequency range (from 290 Hz to 1074 Hz), while the thickness of AMC is 1/13 of the corresponding wavelength at 290 Hz. The broadband and high-efficiency performances of the absorber are attributed to the coupling between the two resonant absorptions and the trapped mode. The numerical simulations and experimental results are obtained to be in good agreement with each other. Moreover, the high broadband absorption can be maintained under random incident acoustic waves. The proposed absorber provides potential applications in low-frequency noise reduction especially when limited space is demanded.     

Broadband high-efficiency controllable asymmetric propagation by pentamode acoustic metasurface

We utilise the pentamode metasurface to realise broadband high-efficiency and controllable asymmetric transmission. The designed metasurface can manipulate the acoustic waves, as expected from the generalised Snell's law, and exhibits unique characteristics such as extraordinary broadband acoustic control, apparent negative refraction, and conversion from the propagating wave to surface mode. The asymmetric transmission features of positive refraction for the forward incidence (FI) and negative refraction for the reverse incidence (RI) can be realised within the range of 2600 Hz to 5600 Hz by controlling the incident angle from 0° to 35° with the transmission efficiency higher than 85.4% for the FI and RI. In addition, by further adjusting the angle of incidence in the range of 25° to 90°, asymmetric transmission characteristics can be expressed as surface wave transmission for the FI and transmitted wave transmission for the RI within the same frequency ranges.     

Tunable unidirectional sound propagation through a sonic-crystal-based acoustic diode

Nonreciprocal wave propagation typically requires strong nonlinear materials to break time reversal symmetry. Here, we utilized a sonic-crystal-based acoustic diode that had broken spatial inversion symmetry and experimentally realized sound unidirectional transmission in this acoustic diode. These novel phenomena are attributed to different mode transitions as well as their associated different energy conversion efficiencies among different diffraction orders at two sides of the diode. This nonreciprocal sound transmission could be systematically controlled by simply mechanically rotating the square rods of the sonic crystal. Different from nonreciprocity due to the nonlinear acoustic effect and broken time reversal symmetry, this new model leads to a one-way effect with higher efficiency, broader bandwidth, and much less power consumption, showing promising applications in various sound devices.     

基于薄膜编码超表面的宽频超薄声散射体

该文提出了一种基于薄膜编码超表面的宽频超薄声散射体。利用附加质量块的薄膜和空气腔组成的薄膜结构构建了反射声波相位差接近180°的两种共振单元。将两种共振单元按照一定的顺序进行排列,可以组成深亚波长尺寸下的声学超表面。所构建的声学超表面可以产生宽频有效的散射声场。通过有限元仿真软件对多个频率的近场散射声场分布、远场声指向性和扩散系数进行了仿真计算,仿真结果显示,该散射体可以高效地散射入射声波,并且散射效果在一定的频率范围内是宽频有效的。     

五模声学超表面理论分析与定向反射声学仿真*

以广义斯奈尔定律为理论依据,对五模声学超表面定向反射的基本原理进行了解析推导和理论分析,获得了五模超表面的理想连续物性参数分布,并给出了五模超表面尺寸设计准则;然后将超表面离散,获得离散单胞的密度和体积模量,并以此为目标进行五模微结构设计,采用均匀化理论计算微结构的等效物性参数;最后,进行了水下声场的声波定向反射调控仿真实验,研究了入射波频率对超表面定向反射性能的影响,仿真结果展现了五模超表面宽频有效的声波调控能力以及调控的可靠性和准确性。本文的研究工作为五模声学超表面的设计和物理实现提供理论指导。