No Arabic abstract
The recent breakthrough in metamaterial-based optical computing devices [Science 343, 160 (2014)] has inspired a quest for similar systems in acoustics, performing mathematical operations on sound waves. So far, acoustic analog computing has been demonstrated using thin planar metamaterials, carrying out the operator of choice in Fourier domain. These so-called filtering metasurfaces, however, are always accompanied with additional Fourier transform sub-blocks, enlarging the computing system and preventing its applicability in miniaturized architectures. Here, employing a simple high-index acoustic slab waveguide, we demonstrate a highly compact and potentially integrable acoustic computing system. The system directly performs mathematical operation in spatial domain and is therefore free of any Fourier bulk lens. Such compact computing system is highly promising for various applications including high throughput image processing, ultrafast equation solving, and real time signal processing.
Image processing and edge detection are at the core of several newly emerging technologies, such as augmented reality, autonomous driving and more generally object recognition. Image processing is typically performed digitally using integrated electronic circuits and algorithms, implying fundamental size and speed limitations, as well as significant power needs. On the other hand, it can also be performed in a low-power analog fashion using Fourier optics, requiring however bulky optical components. Here, we introduce dielectric metasurfaces that perform optical image edge detection in the analog domain using a subwavelength geometry that can be readily integrated with detectors. The metasurface is composed of a suitably engineered array of nanobeams designed to perform either 1st- or 2nd-order spatial differentiation. We experimentally demonstrate the 2nd-derivative operation on an input image, showing the potential of all-optical edge detection using a silicon metasurface geometry working at a numerical aperture as large as 0.35.
Depending on the geometry of their Fermi surfaces, Weyl semimetals and their analogues in classical systems have been classified into two types. In type I Weyl semimetals (WSMs), the cone-like spectrum at the Weyl point (WP) is not tilted, leading to a point-like closed Fermi surface. In type II WSMs, on the contrary, the energy spectrum around the WP is strongly tilted such that the Fermi surface transforms from a point into an open surface. Here, we demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, a new type of (classical) Weyl semimetal whose Fermi surface is neither a point nor a surface, but a flat line. The distinctive Fermi surfaces of such semimetals, dubbed as type III or zero-index WSMs, gives rise to unique physical properties: one of the edge modes of the semimetal exhibits a zero index of refraction along a specific direction, in stark contrast to types I and II WSMs for which the index of refraction is always non-zero. We show that the zero-index response of such topological phases enables exciting applications such as extraordinary wave transmission (EOT).
High index optical waveguide devices such as slab waveguides, strip waveguides and fibers play extremely important roles in a wide range of modern applications including telecommunications, sensing, lasing, interferometry, and resonant amplification. Yet, transposing these advantageous applications from optics to acoustics remains a fundamental practical challenge, since most materials exhibit refractive indices lower than that of air for sound waves. Here, we demonstrate the relevance of acoustic metamaterials for tackling this pivotal problem. More specifically, we consider a metamaterial built from subwavelength air-filled acoustic pipes engineered to effectively exhibit a higher refractive index than homogenous air. We show that such medium can be employed to realize acoustic equivalents of dielectric slab or strip waveguides, and optical fibers. Unlike conventional acoustic pipes, our guiding approach allows the waveguide to remain open to the external medium, which opens a plethora of new opportunities in noise management, medical imaging, underwater communication systems, and sensing.
We numerically model key building blocks of a phononic integrated circuit that enable phonon routing in high-acoustic-index waveguides. Our particular focus is on Gallium Nitride-on-sapphire phononic platform which has recently demonstrated high acoustic confinement in its top layer without the use of suspended structures. We start with systematic simulation of various transverse phonon modes supported in strip waveguides and ring resonators with sub-wavelength cross-section. Mode confinement and quality factors of phonon modes are numerically investigated with respect to geometric parameters. Quality factor up to $10^{8}$ is predicted in optimized ring resonators. We next study the design of the phononic directional couplers, and present key design parameters for achieving strong evanescent couplings between modes propagating in parallel waveguides. Last, interdigitated transducer electrodes are included in the simulation for direct excitation of a ring resonator and critical coupling between microwave input and phononic dissipation. Our work provides comprehensive numerical characterization of phonon modes and functional phononic components in high-acoustic-index phononic circuits, which supplements previous theories and contributes to the emerging field of phononic integrated circuits.
Using both multiple scattering theory and effective medium theory, we find that an acoustic metamaterial consisting of an array of spinning cylinders can possess a host of unusual properties including folded bulk and interface-state bands in the subwavelength regime. The folding of the bands has its origin in the rotation-induced antiresonance of the effective compressibility with its frequency at the angular velocity of the spinning cylinders, as well as in the rotational Doppler effect which breaks the chiral symmetry of the effective mass densities. Both bulk and interface-state bands exhibit remarkable variations as the filling fraction of the spinning cylinders is increased. In particular, a zero-frequency gap appears when exceeds a critical value. The uni-directional interface states bear interesting unconventional characteristics and their robust one-way transport properties are demonstrated numerically.