Yi-Fan Zhu

Acoustic one-way open tunnel by using metasurface

We design and experimentally demonstrate an acoustic tunnel completely open for substances like fluids or other energy fluxes to exchange while allowing sound to pass only in one direction. This significant feature is based on a distinctive mechanism using metasurface pairs to yield asymmetric extraordinary reflections along opposite directions. Theoretical analysis is presented to analytically predict the trajectory of the wave. The experimental results agree well with the numerical results and the theoretical predictions. Our design may pave the way to more versatile acoustic one-way devices with potential applications in many scenarios like duct noise control and ultrasonic therapy.

Dispersionless Manipulation of Reflected Acoustic Wavefront by Subwavelength Corrugated Surface

Free controls of optic/acoustic waves for bending, focusing or steering the energy of wavefronts are highly desirable in many practical scenarios. However, the dispersive nature of the existing metamaterials/metasurfaces for wavefront manipulation necessarily results in limited bandwidth. Here, we propose the concept of dispersionless wavefront manipulation and report a theoretical, numerical and experimental work on the design of a reflective surface capable of controlling the acoustic wavefront arbitrarily without bandwidth limitation. Analytical analysis predicts the possibility to completely eliminate the frequency dependence with a specific gradient surface which can be implemented by designing a subwavelength corrugated surface. Experimental and numerical results, well consistent with the theoretical predictions, have validated the proposed scheme by demonstrating a distinct phenomenon of extraordinary acoustic reflection within an ultra-broad band. For acquiring a deeper insight into the underlying physics, a simple physical model is developed which helps to interpret this extraordinary phenomenon and predict the upper cutoff frequency precisely. Generations of planar focusing and non-diffractive beam have also been exemplified. With the dispersionless wave-steering capability and deep discrete resolution, our designed structure may open new avenue to fully steer classical waves and offer design possibilities for broadband optical/acoustical devices.

Broadband unidirectional transmission of sound in unblocked channel

We have designed and experimentally fabricated a straight channel capable of realizing unidirectional acoustic transmission within a broad band while leaving a gap much wider than the wavelength that may serve as a passage for other entities such as fluids or objects. This extraordinary feature stems from a distinctly different mechanism that directs the sound path asymmetrically by employing acoustic metasurfaces. The numerical and experimental results agree quite well with the theoretical predictions. Our scheme may open up avenue for the design of acoustic one-way devices and have potentials in various applications such as architectural acoustics or medical ultrasound.

Ultrathin Acoustic Metasurface-Based Schroeder Diffuser

“Schroeder diffuser” is a classical design, proposed over 40 years ago, for artificially creating optimal and predictable sound diffuse reflection. It has been widely adopted in architectural acoustics, and it has also shown substantial potential in noise control, ultrasound imaging, microparticle manipulation et al. The conventional Schroeder diffuser, however, has a considerable thickness on the order of one wavelength, severely impeding its applications for low-frequency sound. In this paper, a new class of ultrathin and planar Schroeder diffusers are proposed based on the concept of an acoustic metasurface. Both numerical and experimental results demonstrate satisfactory sound diffuse reflection produced from the metasurface-based Schroeder diffuser despite it being approximately 1 order of magnitude thinner than the conventional one. The proposed design not only offers promising building blocks with great potential to profoundly impact architectural acoustics and related fields, but it also constitutes a major step towards real-world applications of acoustic metasurfaces. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.7.021034 Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Published by the American Physical Society

Internal friction study on low-temperature phase transitions in lead zirconate titanate ferroelectric ceramics

In this work, a bulk thermodynamics and microstructure study of lead zirconate titanate ferroelectric PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 is performed through internal friction, Young’s modulus, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and electron diffraction measurements. Two internal friction peaks are observed near 261 and 225 K. The former correlates with an enthalpy change revealed by DSC data and is ascribable to a first-order tetragonal-to-monoclinic phase transition. The latter (225 K), however, showing asymmetric line shape together with a dramatic decrease in Young’s modulus, might correspond to a phase transition associated with the motion of domain walls. The emergence of new domains is evidenced from the superlattice reflections, and the direction of the superlattice is along the z-axis, as indicated by electron diffraction.

Sound Insulation in a Hollow Pipe with Subwavelength Thickness

Suppression of the transmission of undesired sound in ducts is a fundamental issue with wide applications in a great variety of scenarios. Yet the conventional ways of duct noise control have to rely on mismatched impedance or viscous dissipation, leading the ducts to have ventilation capability weakened by inserted absorbers or a thick shell to accommodate bulky resonators. Here we present a mechanism for insulating sound transmission in a hollow pipe with subwavelength thickness, by directly reversing its propagating direction via anomalous reflection at the flat inner boundary with well-designed phase profile. A metamaterial-based implementation is demonstrated both in simulation and in experiment, verifying the theoretical prediction on high-efficient sound insulation at the desired frequencies by the resulting device, which has a shell as thin as 1/8 wavelength and an entirely open passage that maintains the continuity of the background medium. We have also investigated the potential of our scheme to work in broadband by simply cascading different metamaterial unit cells. Without the defects of blocked path and bulky size of existing sound insulators, we envision our design will open new route to sound insulation in ducts and have deep implication in practical applications such as designs of ventilation fans and vehicle silencers.

Three-dimensional ultra-broadband focusing flat mirror for airborne sound

We report the theoretical design, numerical simulation, and experimental demonstration of a flat mirror capable to efficiently focus the reflected sound in three-dimensional space within an ultra-broad band. The proposed mirror is implemented with a textured rigid surface, enabling simple design and easy fabrication. We analytically derive the distribution of geometric parameters needed for producing ultra-broadband focusing, and verify the performance of resulting mirror both numerically and experimentally. Furthermore, our scheme allows further extending of the working band by resizing individual elements. Our design with simplicity and capability may promote the application of focusing devices generally subject to limited bandwidth.

Broadband convergence of acoustic energy with binary reflected phases on planar surface

We propose to produce efficient three-dimensional sound converging in broadband with binary reflected phases on a planar surface with unit cells consisting of only two kinds of elements. The mechanism is experimentally demonstrated by focusing airborne sound and by forming an “acoustic needle,” with handmade arrays of commercial test tubes with/without lids. Both the simulated and measured results show the precise control of converging acoustic energy despite misalignment errors obvious even to naked eyes. Our approach with extreme simplicity yet good robustness may apply in various scenarios that conventionally need complicated elements and continuous variation of parameters for focusing sound.

Multi-frequency acoustic metasurface for extraordinary reflection and sound focusing

We theoretically and numerically present the design of multi-frequency acoustic metasurfaces (MFAMs) with simple structure that can work not only at fundamental frequency, but also at their harmonic frequencies, which breaks the single frequency limitation in conventional resonance-based acoustic metasurfaces. The phase matched condition for achromatic manipulation is discussed. We demonstrate achromatic extraordinary reflection and sound focusing at 1700Hz, 3400Hz, and 5100Hz, that is, they have the same reflection direction and the same focusing position. This significant feature may pave the way to new type of acoustic metasurface, and will also extend acoustic metasurface applications to strongly nonlinear source cases.

Asymmetric sound transmission in a passive non-blocking structure with multiple ports

We present the mechanism for breaking the symmetry in sound transmission between any two neighboring ports in a passive multi-port system. Numerical simulations and experimental measurements verify that by using judiciously designed metastructures to provide an extra wavevector without blocking the sound path, the propagating wave will travel along a preset direction at each port instead of splitting to both directions. We have also demonstrated the flexibility of this scheme to adjust the location of each port. Our design advances further the concept of one-way manipulation in passive two-port systems and may enable novel sound-steering devices for more versatile applications.