Acoustic-structural interaction is the key to understand a wide range of engineering problems such as membrane-based dynamic pressure sensors, hearing devices for sound source localization, and acoustic absorbers for noise reduction. Despite tremendous developments in the last decades, there is still a fundamental size limitation in these areas. In the case of dynamic pressure sensors, sensitivity usually suffers for miniature sensors; the available acoustic directional cues proportionally decrease with size, which adversely affects the localization performance; thick panels are required to achieve superior sound attenuation, particularly for low-frequency sound. It is the motivation of this dissertation research to address the abovementioned size limitation that involves acoustic-structural interaction. The overall goal of this dissertation work is to achieve an enhanced understanding of the acoustic-structural interaction between diaphragms and air cavity and to apply this understanding to develop high-performance miniature acoustic sensors and noise reduction metamaterials. First, a finite element method (FEM) model and large-scale device are developed to understand how the interaction between the diaphragm and its backing air cavity affects the equivalent mass, stiffness, and damping of air-backed diaphragms. The numerical and experimental study shows that the complex interaction cannot be captured by the commonly used lump model. Then, air-backed graphene diaphragms are used to develop fiber optic sensors with sub-millimeters footprint and high sensitivity. Two different configurations are designed to enhance the sensor sensitivity limited by the backing air cavity. One is to increase the mechanical sensitivity by using a larger backing volume, the other is to increase the optical sensitivity by using silver-graphene composite diaphragm. Next, acoustic metamaterials with air-coupled diaphragms as unit cells are developed to achieve perfect acoustic absorption with thickness much smaller than the sound wavelength, which cannot be realized using natural materials. Finally, an expanded configuration of two diaphragms coupled by an air-filled tunnel is experimentally developed to mimic the hearing system of small vertebrates. The goal is to amplify the small directional cues available to the small animals so that a high angular resolution can be achieved. This dissertation provides a quantitative and mechanistic explanation for the interaction between the diaphragms and the sealed air cavity. It offers several frameworks for the development of miniature pressures, directional sensors, and thin sound absorbers. / Mechanical Engineering

A transmission-line metamaterial design of a material-embedded electric line source radiating inside a ground recess is investigated. The media embedding the recessed line source are designed such that the embedded current creates the same radiation pattern as a line source over a flat conducting ground plane. Transmission-line metamaterial unit cell designs for the embedding media obtained from the transformation electromagnetics design technique are shown. The metamaterial design of the overall embedded source configuration is numerically tested using circuit simulations. It is shown that the embedded-source design creates the same radiation characteristics as the line source above a flat ground plane at the design frequency.

<p>Thermal radiation, an omnipresent phenomenon characterized by electromagnetic wave emission from objects above absolute zero, has consistently intrigued scientific exploration throughout history and profoundly influences various technological applications. Traditionally, the primary utilization of thermal radiation has been limited to fields such as lighting, cooling, and energy harvesting. However, the true potential of thermal radiation extends far beyond these energy-oriented applications. Every object imprints a unique signature within its emitted thermal radiation. These signatures, distinguished by their wide-ranging spectral and polarimetric characteristics, represent a rich information source about the emitting objects. The goal of this dissertation is to offer novel prospective and platforms to expand our perception and utilization of the spectral and polarimetric attributes of thermal radiation. It seeks to augment the conventional understanding of thermal radiation as merely an energy source, underlining its immense potential as an information carrier.</p> <p>This dissertation explores the spectral and polarimetric features left within the thermal radiation and how these features can be manipulated. The research uncovers that the macroscopic spectral, spatial, and particularly spin properties of thermal radiation are intimately connected to the underlying symmetry of the microscopic emitters within a nanophotonic system. This close relationship between symmetry and thermal radiation introduces a universal strategy to gain thorough control over the spectral-polarimetric properties of thermal radiation. The control of these properties may spur pioneering developments in encoding information within thermal radiation.</p> <p>Furthermore, platforms to decode these spectral and polarimetric properties in thermal radiation are as pivotal as the encoding platforms. These decoding platforms allow us to uncover hidden messages within this invisible light and enable us to push the boundaries of fully passive and physics-aware machine perception. Nevertheless, contemporary methods for spectrum and polarization resolved detection of thermal radiation, especially in imaging form, are cumbersome, lacking robustness, and prohibitively expensive. Hence, this dissertation explores two fundamentally innovative spectral separation schemes: the nonlocal super-dispersion enabled by optically active crystals and the dispersive dichroism in 2D infrared metasurfaces. These methods present compact, cost-effective, and high-performance solutions for spectral-polarimetric thermal imaging, thereby enhancing its efficacy in diverse applications.</p>

Frequency selective surfaces (FSS) were originally developed for electromagnetic filtering applications at microwave frequencies. Electron-beam lithography has enabled the extension of FSS to infrared frequencies; however, these techniques create sample sizes that are seldom appropriate for real world applications due to the size and rigidity of the substrate. A new method of fabricating large area conformal infrared FSS is introduced, which involves releasing miniature FSS arrays from a substrate for implementation in a coating. A selective etching process is proposed and executed to create FSS particles from crossed-dipole and square-loop FSS arrays. When the fill-factor of the particles in the measurement area is accounted for, the spectral properties of the FSS flakes are similar to the full array from which they were created. As a step toward scalability of the process, a square-patch design is presented and formed into FSS flakes with geometry within the capability of ultraviolet optical lithography. Square-loop infrared FSS designs are investigated both in quasi-infinite arrays and in truncated sub-arrays. First, scattering-scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) is introduced as a characterization method for square-loop arrays, and the near-field amplitude and phase results are discussed in terms of the resonant behavior observed in far-field measurements. Since the creation of FSS particles toward a large area coating inherently truncates the arrays, array truncation effects are investigated for square-loop arrays both in the near- and far-field. As an extension of the truncation study, small geometric changes in the design of square-loop arrays are introduced as a method to tune the resonant far-field wavelength back to that of the quasi-infinite arrays.

The focus of this dissertation is analyzing and manipulating acoustic wave propagation in metamaterials, which can be used to assist the design of acoustic devices. Metamaterials are artificial materials, which are arranged in certain patterns at a scale smaller than the wavelength and can exhibit properties beyond those naturally occurring materials. With metamaterials, novel phenomena, such as focusing, super absorption, cloaking and localization of ultrasound, are theoretically proposed and experimentally verified. In recent years, a planar version of metamaterials, often called meta-surfaces, has attracted a great deal of attention. Meta-surfaces can control and manipulate the amplitude, phase, and directions of waves. In this dissertation, we conducted a systematic study by deriving the effective medium theories (EMTs), and developing the theoretical and numerical models for our proposed designed metamaterial. Very recently, acoustic meta-surfaces have been used in the design of acoustic lenses, which can achieve various functionalities such as focusing and collimation. In the designs of acoustic lenses, impedance is an important issue because it is usually difficult to make the impedance of the lens equal to that of the environment, and mismatched impedance is detrimental to the performance of the acoustic lens. We developed an EMT based on a coupled-mode theory and transfer matrix method to characterize the propagation behavior and, based on these models, we report two designs of acoustic lenses in water and air, respectively. They are rigid thin plates decorated with periodically distributed sub-wavelength slits. The building block of the acoustic lens in water is constructed from coiling-up spaces, and that of the acoustic lens in air is made of layered structures. We demonstrate that the impedances of the lenses are indeed matched to those of the background media. With these impedance-matched acoustic lenses, we demonstrate acoustic focusing and collimation, and redirection of transmitted acoustic energy by finite-element simulations. In the framework of the hidden source of the volume principle, an EMT for a coupled resonator structure is derived, which shows that coupled resonators are characterized by a negative value of the effective bulk modulus near the resonance frequency and induce flat bands that give rise to the confinement of the incoming wave inside the resonators. The leakage of sound waves in a resonance-based rainbow trapping device prevents the sound wave from being trapped at a specific location. Based on our EMT, we report a sound trapping device design based on coupled Helmholtz resonators, loaded to an air waveguide, to effectively tackle the wave leakage issue. We show that a coupled resonators structure can generate dips in the transmission spectrum by an analytical model derived from Newton’s second law and a numerical analysis based on the finite-element method. We compute the transmission spectra and band diagram from the effective medium theory, which are consistent with the simulation results. Trapping and the high absorption of sound wave energy are demonstrated with our designed device.

Metamaterials are engineered periodic composites that have unique refractive-index characteristics not available in natural materials. They have been demonstrated over a large portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, from visible to radiofrequency. For applications in the infrared, the structure of metamaterials is generally defined using electron-beam lithography. At these frequencies, the loss and dispersion of any metal included in the composite are of particular significance. In this regard, we investigate deviations from the Drude model due to the anomalous skin effect. For comparison with theoretical predictions, the optical properties of several different metals are measured, both at room temperature and at 4 K. We extend this analysis to the coupling between plasmon and phonon modes in a metamaterial, demonstrating that very thin oxide layers residing at the metal-substrate interface will significantly affect the spectral location of the overall resonance. Oxide-thickness-dependent trends are then explored in some detail. Potential applications of this general area of study include surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy for chemical sensing, and development of narrowband notch filters in the very long wavelength infrared. We then consider various possibilities for development of tunable infrared metamaterials. These would have wide applicability in dynamically variable reflectance surfaces and in beam steering. We consider several methods that have been previously shown to produce tunable metamaterials in the radio frequency band, and explore the challenges that occur when such techniques are attempted at infrared frequencies. A significant advance in tunable-infrared-metamaterial technology is then demonstrated with the use of thermochromic vanadium dioxide thin films. Highlights include the first demonstration of a tunable reflectarray in the infrared for active modulation of reflected phase, the first demonstration of a tunable resonance frequency in the thermal infrared band, and the largest resonance-frequency shift recorded to date in any part of the infrared. Finally, future work is proposed that holds the promise of wideband frequency tuning and electronically-controllable metamaterials.

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