The acoustic beam aperture modifier is built upon gradient-index phononic crystals, in this case an array of steel pins embedded in epoxy in a particular pattern. Artificial structures are created in patterns that bend the acoustic wave onto a single point, and then refocus the acoustic wave into a wider or narrower beam, depending on the direction of travel through the proposed acoustic beam aperture modifier. The basic principles of optical metamaterials apply to acoustic metamaterials. Optical metamaterials have been widely studied in the past decade for applications such as cloaking and perfect lenses. (Photo Credit: Sz-Chin Steven Lin, Penn State)
PENN STATE META MATERIALS SERIES
With such an acoustic lens, the need for a series of expensive transducers of different sizes is eliminated. The acoustic beam aperture modifier can effectively shrink or expand the aperture of an acoustic beam with minimum energy loss and waveform distortion. The device should also provide more accurate and efficient high-intensity focused ultrasound(HIFU) therapies, a non-invasive heat-based technique targeted at a variety of cancers and neurological disorders. This invention will benefit almost all current sonic and ultrasonic applications, such as ultrasonic nondestructive evaluations and ultrasonic imaging. In a cover article in The Journal of Applied Physics, a team of Penn State researchers has designed and computationally tested a type of manmade metamaterial capable for the first time of manipulating a variety of acoustic waves with one simple device.
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