The present invention relates generally to non-reciprocal devices, and more particularly to non-reciprocal acoustic devices based on angular momentum biasing.
Non-reciprocity of wave propagation is a fascinating property of a medium originating from time-reversal symmetry breaking According to the Casimir-Onsager principle, for a device to be non-reciprocal, its scattering matrix must depend on an odd vector upon time-reversal. For instance, in such a non-reciprocal device (e.g., isolator, diode), the waves are totally transmitted in one direction and perfectly reflected in the other. Recently, a few proposals for achieving unidirectional sound propagation in linear devices have been discussed, but most of these concepts use an asymmetric linear structure without any type of odd-vector bias, making the device totally symmetric upon time-reversal, and therefore completely reciprocal. These linear devices behave as asymmetrical mode converters, rather than as isolators. These linear devices cannot be used for sound isolation because if the input and output are reversed, as required in a device having the purpose of a diode between two ports, the propagation is strictly reciprocal.
A viable solution to achieve acoustic non-reciprocity, suitable for isolation, is to use non-linear media. For instance, one can pair a phononic crystal and a non-linear medium capable of converting the frequency of the wave. From one side, the wave is reflected because the crystal is operating in the band gap. From the other side, the wave frequency is converted into a value in the propagation band of the crystal, and therefore transmitted through the structure. However, this solution requires very high input powers and makes it difficult to efficiently operate with the low-intensity signals typically encountered in linear acoustics. As an additional drawback, particularly problematic for sound waves, it drastically modifies the frequency of the signal. In principle though, non-reciprocal propagation in linear systems is allowed by the laws of physics. Magnetic bias can induce non-reciprocity, like in the case of the acoustic Faraday effect, but magneto-acoustic effects are relatively weak and would require large devices considerably bigger than the wavelength. Mechanical motion has been proposed to realize an acoustic gyrator (a non-reciprocal phase shifter), but as in the case of magnetic bias, the obtained device is very bulky and stringently limited to transverse waves on pipes. A solution for a linear, compact acoustic non-reciprocal device for longitudinal waves in a gas (e.g., air) is still missing and highly desirable for audible sound isolation.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a non-reciprocal device comprises an azimuthally symmetric acoustical cavity with an angular momentum bias. The non-reciprocal device further comprises a plurality of acoustic waveguides connected to the azimuthally symmetric acoustical cavity, where each of the plurality of acoustic waveguides is associated with an input and output port. Additionally, the non-reciprocal device comprises an input port of a first acoustic waveguide of the plurality of acoustic waveguides that is excited with an acoustic wave. The azimuthally symmetric acoustical cavity is biased in such a manner to induce total transmission of the acoustic wave to an output port of a second acoustic waveguide of the plurality of acoustic waveguides and no transmission of the acoustic wave to an output port of a third acoustic waveguide of the plurality of acoustic waveguides.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a non-reciprocal device comprises an acoustical cavity with an angular momentum bias, where the acoustical cavity is composed of sub-cavities coupled to each other and where the angular momentum bias is achieved by a temporal modulation of acoustical properties of the sub-cavities. The non-reciprocal device further comprises a plurality of acoustic waveguides connected to the acoustical cavity, where each of the plurality of acoustic waveguides is associated with an input and output port. Furthermore, the non-reciprocal device comprises an input port of a first acoustic waveguide of the plurality of acoustic waveguides is excited with an acoustic wave. The acoustical cavity is biased in such a manner to induce total transmission of the acoustic wave to an output port of a second acoustic waveguide of the plurality of acoustic waveguides and no transmission of the acoustic wave to an output port of a third acoustic waveguide of the plurality of acoustic waveguides.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a non-reciprocal device comprises an acoustical cavity, where the acoustical cavity is composed of a planar cavity in which a linear momentum bias is applied through a transversely moving medium or a temporal modulation. The non-reciprocal device further comprises a pair of acoustic waveguides connected to the acoustical cavity, where each of the pair of acoustic waveguides is associated with an input and output port. The non-reciprocal device additionally comprises an input port of a first acoustic waveguide of the pair of acoustic waveguides is excited with an acoustic wave. The acoustical cavity is biased in such a manner to induce total transmission of the acoustic wave excited at the input port of the first acoustic waveguide of the pair of acoustic waveguides to an output port of the second acoustic waveguide of the pair of acoustic waveguides, where the acoustical cavity is biased in such a manner to induce zero transmission of the acoustic wave excited at an input port of the second acoustic waveguide of the pair of acoustic waveguides to an output port of the first acoustic waveguide of the pair of acoustic waveguides.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a non-reciprocal device comprises an acoustical cavity, where the acoustical cavity is composed of a planar cavity in which a linear momentum bias is applied through a transversely moving medium or a temporal modulation and where the acoustical cavity is excited by acoustic waves propagating in free space. Faces of the acoustical cavity are partially-transparent in order to allow penetration of the acoustic waves into the acoustical cavity.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, an artificial acoustic medium made of a lattice of non-reciprocal devices, where the acoustic medium is rendered non-reciprocal by applying angular or linear momentum bias to each element of the lattice resulting in non-reciprocal propagation for both bulk modes and edge modes of the artificial acoustic medium.
The foregoing has outlined rather generally the features and technical advantages of one or more embodiments of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the present invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the present invention will be described hereinafter which may form the subject of the claims of the present invention.
A better understanding of the present invention can be obtained when the following detailed description is considered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:
As stated in the Background section, a viable solution to achieve acoustic non-reciprocity, suitable for isolation, is to use non-linear media. For instance, one can pair a phononic crystal and a non-linear medium capable of converting the frequency of the wave. From one side, the wave is reflected because the crystal is operating in the band gap. From the other side, the wave frequency is converted into a value in the propagation band of the crystal, and therefore transmitted through the structure. However, this solution requires very high input powers and makes it difficult to efficiently operate with the low-intensity signals typically encountered in linear acoustics. As an additional drawback, particularly problematic for sound waves, it drastically modifies the frequency of the signal. In principle though, non-reciprocal propagation in linear systems is allowed by the laws of physics. Magnetic bias can induce non-reciprocity, like in the case of the acoustic Faraday effect, but magneto-acoustic effects are relatively weak and would require large devices considerably bigger than the wavelength. Mechanical motion has been proposed to realize an acoustic gyrator (a non-reciprocal phase shifter), but as in the case of magnetic bias, the obtained device is very bulky and stringently limited to transverse waves on pipes. A solution for a linear, compact acoustic non-reciprocal device for longitudinal waves in a gas (e.g., air) is still missing and highly desirable for audible sound isolation.
The principles of the present invention provide a means for developing a linear non-reciprocal device, such as a linear acoustic diode or a linear acoustic isolator, for acoustic waves based on angular momentum biasing. As a result of the principles of the present invention, linear non-reciprocity is now realized in acoustics without distorting the input signal or requiring high input power or bulky devices. The method for developing such a non-reciprocal acoustic device is based on introducing an acoustic equivalent to the Zeeman effect, based on angular-momentum biasing a small circular cavity at resonance. Consider an azimuthally symmetric acoustical cavity, for instance a ring cavity 100 carved into a solid block as depicted in
(H0+P)|ψ=ω|ψ, (1)
where |ψ is a modal state vector, w is the eigenfrequency, H0 is the time-evolution operator of the system in absence of bias and P is an operator describing the perturbation due to the moving medium. This equation is derived assuming irrotational and isentropic flow. Neglecting the higher order modes, the two eigenvalues ω+ and ω− are found as:
where ω0 is the degenerate resonance frequency of the fundamental mode in the absence of bias and Rav is the average ring radius. As represented in
In ferromagnetic materials, the Zeeman effect is responsible for non-reciprocal propagation of electromagnetic waves. Because the space of the states of ring cavity 100 now depends on an odd vector upon time-reversal, i.e. the angular momentum of the moving medium, one would expect the proposed acoustic Zeeman effect to be capable of inducing non-reciprocity, just like its quantum counterpart for electromagnetic waves. In that regard, the principles of the present invention generalize the acoustic diode to a three-port linear device, also known as circulator. Such a device allows acoustic power incident at port 1 to be totally and solely transmitted at port 3. From port 3, the power goes to port 2, and from port 2 to port 1. The scattering matrix S for the circulator envisioned in
a symptom of its non-reciprocal nature. It is noted that the proposed diode of the present invention is a subsystem of an acoustic circulator, also a first of its kind for sound waves. Indeed, a diode can be readily obtained from the circulator by matching one of the ports, reducing the system to an input-output device capable of sound isolation. For example, as illustrated in
where we have noted γ± the decay rates associated with the RH and LH modes. From EQ(4) and EQ(5), it is evident that if the modes of a cavity 104 coupled to three waveguides 105 can be split such that ω±=ω γ/√{square root over (3)}, one can obtain T1→2=0, and T1→3=1, and by symmetry, the entire scattering matrix of EQ(3). Hence, this proves that with the acoustic Zeeman effect, an acoustic circulator with a linear subwavelength non-reciprocal response is possible.
Numerous simulations have been performed to investigate the behavior of the three port system 103 of
Referring to
To get more insight into the behavior of the acoustic pressure field inside device 103, the acoustic pressure field distribution under the unbiased operation and under the optimum velocity bias is shown in
A device 300 fabricated using the principles of the present invention is shown in
While
In all branches of wave physics, subwavelength wave manipulation is definitely challenging, and yet extremely desirable, due to the compactness of the associated devices. The subwavelength acoustic diode of the present invention may be used in practical integrated and tunable devices to achieve giant acoustic isolation at audible frequencies. The acoustic Zeeman effect, based on angular momentum biasing of a subwavelength ring cavity, may open new venues to tame the propagation of airborne acoustic waves in a new generation of acoustic switches, noise control devices, or imaging systems.
The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/868,178, “Non-Reciprocal Acoustic Devices Based on Angular Momentum Biasing,” filed on Aug. 21, 2013, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The U.S. Government has certain rights in this invention pursuant to the terms of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Grant No. HDTRA1-12-1-0022.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2014/049544 | 8/4/2014 | WO | 00 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61868178 | Aug 2013 | US |