An ultrasonic metallic Fabry–Pérot metamaterial for use in water

Fabry-Pérot ultrasonic metamaterials have been additively manufactured using laser powder bed fusion to contain subwavelength holes with a high aspect-ratio of width to depth. Such metamaterials require the acoustic impedance mismatch between the structure and the immersion medium to be large. It is shown for the first time that metallic structures fulfil this criterion for applications in water over the 200–800 kHz frequency range. It is also demonstrated that laser powder bed fusion is a flexible fabrication method for the ceration of structures with different thicknesses, hole geometry and tapered openings, allowing the acoustic properties to be modified. It was confirmed via both finite element simulation and practical measurements that these structures supported Fabry-Pérot resonances, needed for metamaterial operation, at ultrasonic frequencies in water. It was also demonstrated the the additively-manufactured structures detected the presence of a sub-wavelength slit aperture in water.