No Arabic abstract
Recently, it was shown that surface electromagnetic waves at interfaces between continuous homogeneous media (e.g., surface plasmon-polaritons at metal-dielectric interfaces) have a topological origin [K. Y. Bliokh et al., Nat. Commun. 10, 580 (2019)]. This is explained by the nontrivial topology of the non-Hermitian photon helicity operator in the Weyl-like representation of Maxwell equations. Here we analyze another type of classical waves: longitudinal acoustic waves corresponding to spinless phonons. We show that surface acoustic waves, which appear at interfaces between media with opposite-sign densities, can be explained by similar topological features and the bulk-boundary correspondence. However, in contrast to photons, the topological properties of sound waves originate from the non-Hermitian four-momentum operator in the Klein-Gordon representation of acoustic fields.
Surface acoustic wave (SAW) is utilized in diverse fields ranging from physics, engineering, to biology, for transducing, sensing and processing various signals. Optical imaging of SAW provides valuable information since the amplitude and the phase of the displacement field can be measured locally with the resolution limited by the spot size of the optical beam. So far, optical imaging techniques rely on modulation of optical path, phase, or diffraction associated with SAW. Here, we report experiments showing that SAW can be imaged with an optical polarimetry. Since the amount of polarization rotation can be straightforwardly calibrated when polarimeters work in the shot-noise-limited regime, the polarimetric imaging of SAW is beneficial for quantitative studies of SAW-based technologies.
We show that long-range and robust acoustic pulling can be achieved by using a pair of one-way chiral surface waves supported on the interface between two phononic crystals composed of spinning cylinders with equal but opposite spinning velocities embedded in water. When the chiral surface mode with a relative small Bloch wave vector is excited, the particle located in the interface waveguide will scatter the excited surface mode to another chiral surface mode with a greater Bloch wave vector, resulting in an acoustic pulling force, irrespective of the size and material of the particle. Thanks to the backscattering immunity of the chiral surface waves against local disorders, the particle can be pulled following a flexible trajectory as determined by the shape of the interface. As such, this new acoustic pulling scheme overcomes some of the limitations of the traditional acoustic pulling using structured beams, such as short pulling distances, straight-line type pulling and strong dependence on the scattering properties of the particle. Our work may also inspire the application of topological acoustics to acoustic manipulations.
We analyze planar electromagnetic waves confined by a slab waveguide formed by two perfect electrical conductors. Remarkably, 2D Maxwell equations describing transverse electromagnetic modes in such waveguides are exactly mapped onto equations for acoustic waves in fluids or gases. We show that interfaces between two slab waveguides with opposite-sign permeabilities support 1D edge modes, analogous to surface acoustic plasmons at interfaces with opposite-sign mass densities. We analyze this novel type of edge modes for the cases of isotropic media and anisotropic media with tensor permeabilities (including hyperbolic media). We also take into account `non-Hermitian edge modes with imaginary frequencies or/and propagation constants. Our theoretical predictions are feasible for optical and microwave experiments involving 2D metamaterials.
We construct a novel Lagrangian representation of acoustic field theory that describes the local vector properties of longitudinal (curl-free) acoustic fields. In particular, this approach accounts for the recently-discovered nonzero spin angular momentum density in inhomogeneous sound fields in fluids or gases. The traditional acoustic Lagrangian representation with a ${it scalar}$ potential is unable to describe such vector properties of acoustic fields adequately, which are however observable via local radiation forces and torques on small probe particles. By introducing a displacement ${it vector}$ potential analogous to the electromagnetic vector potential, we derive the appropriate canonical momentum and spin densities as conserved Noether currents. The results are consistent with recent theoretical analyses and experiments. Furthermore, by an analogy with dual-symmetric electromagnetic field theory that combines electric- and magnetic-potential representations, we put forward an acoustic ${it spinor}$ representation combining the scalar and vector representations. This approach also includes naturally coupling to sources. The strong analogies between electromagnetism and acoustics suggest further productive inquiry, particularly regarding the nature of the apparent spacetime symmetries inherent to acoustic fields.
Voltage induced magnetization dynamics of magnetic thin films is a valuable tool to study anisotropic fields, exchange couplings, magnetization damping and spin pumping mechanism. A particularly well established technique is the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) generated by the coupling of microwave photons and magnetization eigenmodes in the GHz range. Here we review the basic concepts of the so-called acoustic ferromagnetic resonance technique (a-FMR) induced by the coupling of surface acoustic waves (SAW) and magnetization of thin films. Interestingly, additional to the benefits of the microwave excited FMR technique, the coupling between SAW and magnetization also offers fertile ground to study magnon-phonon and spin rotation couplings. We describe the in-plane magnetic field angle dependence of the a-FMR by measuring the absorption / transmission of SAW and the attenuation of SAW in the presence of rotational motion of the lattice, and show the consequent generation of spin current by acoustic spin pumping.