Negative refraction and focusing of elastic Lamb waves at an interface

Suraj Bramhavar, Claire Prada, Alexei A. Maznev, Arthur G. Every, Theodore B. Norris, and Todd W. Murray

Phys. Rev. B 83, 014106 – Published 24 January 2011

Abstract

We study negative refraction and focusing of elastic waves in a simple mechanical system comprised of a freestanding plate with a step change in thickness. A point-focused and intensity-modulated laser source is used to excite backward-propagating Lamb waves on one side of the step, and the displacement field is probed using an optical interferometer. Conversion between forward- and backward-propagating modes at the interface leads to negative refraction, and we demonstrate for the first time the operation of a flat lens, similar to that predicted by Veselago in negative-index media, for guided elastic waves in isotropic media. We propose that guided elastic waves provide a convenient and powerful experimental test bed for the study of negative-index physics.

Received 9 December 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.014106

Authors & Affiliations

Suraj Bramhavar¹, Claire Prada², Alexei A. Maznev³, Arthur G. Every⁴, Theodore B. Norris⁵, and Todd W. Murray⁶

¹Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
²Institut Langevin, CNRS UMR 7587, ESPCI ParisTech, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
³Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
⁴School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
⁵Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, 2200 Bonisteel Boulevard, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
⁶Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA

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Vol. 83, Iss. 1 — 1 January 2011

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