Acoustic flat lensing using an indefinite medium

International audienceAcoustic flat lensing is achieved here by tuning a phononic array to have indefinite medium behaviour in a narrow frequency spectral region along the acoustic branch in the irreducible Brillouin zone (IBZ). This is confirmed by the occurrence of a flat band along an unusual path in the IBZ and by interpreting the intersection point of isofrequency contours on the corresponding isofrequency surface; coherent directive beams are formed whose reflection from the array surfaces create lensing. Theoretical predictions using a mass-spring lattice approximation of the phononic crystal (PC) are corroborated by time-domain experiments, airborne acoustic waves generated by a source with a frequency centered about 10.6 kHz, placed at three different distances from one side of a finite PC slab, constructed from polymeric spheres, yield distinctive focal spots on the other side. These experiments evaluate the pressure field using optical feedback interferometry and demonstrate precise control of the three-dimensional wave trajectory through a sonic crystal