Acoustic analog of electronic Bloch oscillations and Zener tunneling

Abstract

The observation of Bloch oscillations in sound propagation through a multilayer of two different fluidlike components is predicted. In order to obtain the equivalent to the acoustic analog of a Wannier-Stark ladder [E. E. Mendez et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 60, 2426–2429 (1988)], a set of cavities with increasing thickness is employed. Bloch oscillations were theoretically predicted as time-resolved oscillations in transmission in direct analogy to electronic Bloch oscillations in semiconductor superlattices [J. Feldmann et al., Phys. Rev. B 46, R7252–R7255 (1992)]. Finally, an experimental setup is proposed to observe the phenomenon by using arrays of cylindrical rods in air, which acoustically behaves as a fluidlike system with effective sound velocity and density [D. Torrent et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 204302 (2006)]. For the proposed system, Bloch oscillations and Zener tunneling are confirmed by using multiple scattering simulations. [Work supported by MEC of Spain.]