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Acoustics

Now you hear me, now you don't

Nature Materials volume 9, pages 962–963 (2010)Cite this article

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The first realization of an acoustic diode that passes sound in one direction but not the other signals a new approach to acoustic devices with complex functionality.

Often in crime programmes on television or in films there are scenes in which a suspect is questioned while detectives watch from behind a one-way mirror. The one-way mirror reflects light from one side but lets light come through from the other. In electronics, a similar device has been in existence for decades — the electric diode, which allows an electric current to flow in only one direction. However, the analogue for acoustic waves has not been realized so far. This has now changed: in this issue, Jian-Chun Cheng and his colleagues from Nanjing University, China, experimentally demonstrate a prototype of a one-way acoustic mirror1, theoretically proposed by the same group last year2.

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Figure 1: The acoustic diode.

References

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  1. and the Department of Physics, Baowen Li is at the NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117456. phylibw@nus.edu.sg,

    Baowen Li

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  1. Baowen Li
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Li, B. Now you hear me, now you don't. Nature Mater 9, 962–963 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2906

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