Hypersonic Band Gaps Research Articles

Tailoring Phonon Dispersion of a Genetically Designed Nanophononic Metasurface.

Phonon engineering at the nanoscale holds immense promise for a myriad of applications. However, the design of phononic devices continues to rely on regular shapes chosen according to long-established simple rules. Here, we demonstrate an inverse design approach to create a two-dimensional phononic metasurface exhibiting a highly anisotropic phonon dispersion along the main axes of the Brillouin zone. A partial hypersonic bandgap of approximately 3.5 GHz is present along one axis, with gap closure along the orthogonal axis. Such a level of control is achieved through genetically optimized unit cells, with shapes exceeding conventional intuition. We experimentally validated our theoretical predictions using Brillouin light scattering, confirming the effectiveness of the inverse design method. Our approach unlocks the potential for automated engineering of phononic metasurfaces with on-demand functionalities, thus leading toward innovative phononic devices beyond the limitations of traditional design paradigms.

Origin of the Acoustic Bandgaps in Hypersonic Colloidal Phononics: The Role of the Elastic Impedance.

How phonons propagate in nanostructures determines the flow of elastic and thermal energy in dielectric materials. However, a reliable theoretical prediction of the phonon dispersion relation requires experimental verification both near to and far from the Brillouin zone of the nanostructure. We report on the experimental hypersonic phonon dispersion of hard (SiO2) and soft (polymer) fcc colloidal crystals infiltrated in liquid polydimethylsiloxane with different elastic impedance contrast using Brillouin light spectroscopy. We discuss the distinct differences with first-principles full elastodynamic calculations involving a multiple-scattering theory. Interparticle contacts strongly impact the long-wavelength speed of sound and the nature of the particle vibration resonance-induced hybridization hypersonic bandgap. The absence of the order-induced Bragg bandgap in SiO2 and its presence in soft opals cannot be fully accounted for by the theory, limiting its predictive power. Bridging the elasticity of the two colloidal crystals with suitable SiO2 core–shell (polymer) particles reveals an unprecedented crossover behavior in the dispersion relation. In view of many conversational parameters, the control tuning of phonon propagation in soft matter-based hypersonic phononics remains challenging.

Spider silk: Dynamic mechanics.

The discovery of a hypersonic bandgap in spider silk could drive the design of bio-inspired and biocompatible dynamic materials.

Hypersonic crystal band gaps in Ni/Cu superlattice nanowire arrays

Abstract The hexagonal and tetragonal ordered arrays were prepared by Ni/Cu superlattice nanowires on the porous anodic alumina membrane template, and their phonon band structures were calculated by using the plane wave expansion method. Numerical results show that the hypersonic band gaps can be acquired by adjusting the structural parameters. Along the different wave-vector directions, the width and position of band gap would vary. If the nanowires’filling fraction is increased continuously, the width of the first band gap firstly increases and then decreases within a certain range. The height of superlattice nanowire elementary unit can only affect the width of band gap within a quite narrow range. When the height of elementary unit remains unchanged, the decrease of the Cu-component ratio can contribute to the formation of a wider band gap. Additionally, the wide band gap is more easily formed in tetragonal structure than in hexagonal structure.

Anisotropic hypersonic phonon propagation in films of aligned ellipsoids.

A material with anisotropic elastic mechanical properties and a direction-dependent hypersonic band gap is fabricated using ac electric field-directed convective self-assembly of colloidal ellipsoids. The frequency of the gap, which is detected in the direction perpendicular to particle alignment and entirely absent parallel to alignment, and the effective sound velocities can be tuned by the particle aspect ratio. We hypothesize that the band gap originates from the primary eigenmode peak, the m-splitted (s,1,2) mode, of the particle resonating with the effective medium. These results reveal the potential for powerful control of the hypersonic phononic band diagram by combining anisotropic particles and self-assembly.

Quasi-periodic Fibonacci and periodic one-dimensional hypersonic phononic crystals of porous silicon: Experiment and simulation

A one-dimensional Fibonacci phononic crystal and a distributed Bragg reflector were constructed from porous silicon. The structures had the same number of layers and similar acoustic impedance mismatch, and were electrochemically etched in highly boron doped silicon wafers. The thickness of the individual layers in the stacks was approximately 2 μm. Both types of hypersonic band gap structure were studied by direct measurement of the transmittance of longitudinal acoustic waves in the 0.1–2.6 GHz range. Acoustic band gaps deeper than 50 dB were detected in both structures. The experimental results were compared with model calculations employing the transfer matrix method. The acoustic properties of periodic and quasi-periodic structures in which half-wave retarding bi-layers do not consist of two quarter-wave retarding layers are discussed. The strong correlation between width and depth of gaps in the transmission spectra is demonstrated. The dominant mechanisms of acoustic losses in porous multilayer structures are discussed. The elastic constants remain proportional over our range of porosity, and hence, the Grüneisen parameter is constant. This simplifies the expression for the porosity dependence of the Akhiezer damping.

Surface acoustic wave band gaps in a diamond-based two-dimensional locally resonant phononic crystal for high frequency applications

We report on the theoretical investigation of a locally resonant phononic crystal operating in a hypersonic regime. Through the computation of the band structure and the acoustic displacement field of a two-dimensional array composed of aluminum stubs squarely arranged on a diamond semi-infinite substrate, we show the propagation of guided surface waves in the nonradiative region of diamond substrate (sound cone), as limited by the slowest bulk acoustic wave velocity. Owing to its highest acoustic velocities among all materials, diamond offers a very large nonradiative region allowing band gaps opening for surface acoustic waves. We show that hypersonic band gaps are opened in the nonradiative region as a result of local resonances of aluminum stubs which interact with the guided surface modes propagating on the diamond surface. In addition to the computation of band structure of surface acoustic waves, here, using local resonance mechanism in aluminum/diamond semi-infinite structure, we show that we can confine and guide only one surface defect mode in a waveguide which is unusual compared to the phononic crystals Bragg-based mechanism. This property can be very useful for filtering and demultiplexing applications, notably in hypersonic regime. The creation and the behavior of local resonance bandgap as well as the physics basis are discussed as function of geometrical parameters and involved localized mode natures. Numerical simulations are made making use of the finite element method combined to the supercell technique.

Direct observation of a hypersonic band gap in two-dimensional single crystalline phononic structures

Brillouin light scattering is employed to record the phonon dispersion relation of two-dimensional (2D) hypersonic phononic crystals with square lattice plane group p4mm symmetry. The samples are single crystalline arrays of cylindrical holes with a lattice constant of 750nm and 35% porosity patterned in epoxy using interference lithography. The dispersion relation reveals the presence of a phononic band gap between 1.21 and 1.57GHz at the edge of the first Brillouin zone for elastic waves propagating along the [10] direction and conclusively demonstrates a band gap in a single crystalline 2D polymer based phononic structure at hypersonic frequencies.

Observation and tuning of hypersonic bandgaps in colloidal crystals

Composite materials with periodic variations of density and/or sound velocities, so-called phononic crystals, can exhibit bandgaps where propagation of acoustic waves is forbidden. Phononic crystals are the elastic analogue of the well-established photonic crystals and show potential for manipulating the flow of elastic energy. So far, the experimental realization of phononic crystals has been restricted to macroscopic systems with sonic or ultrasonic bandgaps in the sub-MHz frequency range. In this work, using high-resolution Brillouin spectroscopy we report the first observation of a hypersonic bandgap in face-centred-cubic colloidal crystals formed by self-assembly of polystyrene nanoparticles with subsequent fluid infiltration. Depending on the particle size and the sound velocity in the infiltrated fluid, the frequency and the width of the gap can be tuned. Promising technological applications of hypersonic crystals, ranging from tunable filters and heat management to acousto-optical devices, are anticipated.