Theory of parametric excitation of acoustic waves

A theory of parametric excitation of acoustic waves is constructed. It is shown that nonlinear attenuation is the main restriction mechanism for a parametrically generated sound wave. The intensity of generated waves is directly proportional to the difference ε between the value of pumping and bare attenuation. The calculated proportionality coefficient depends on the shape of the generated sound wave. Why an ordinary pattern does not form for acoustic waves is explained. The structure of the spectrum of excited waves was studied. It is shown that this structure has exponential asymptotic behavior at the frequency. The width of the intensity distribution depends on the shape of a wave. For different cases it behaves as ε ^α with α=1, 8/7, and 4/3. The results are compared with the experimental data of Ref. 5. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 112, 1630–1648 (November 1997) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Reproduced here with stylistic changes by the Translation Editor.