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Acoustic metamaterials

Nearly perfect sound absorbers

Nature Materials volume 13, pages 848–849 (2014)Cite this article

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Membrane-based acoustic resonators of subwavelength dimensions achieve nearly perfect acoustic absorption.

Complete sound attenuation by dissipation usually requires thick absorbing materials, with dimensions comparable to the wavelength of low-frequency airborne sound (typically 1–10 m). However, it should be possible to build sound absorbers (or acoustic sinks) that are much smaller than the acoustic wavelength. Such a compact device would be of great interest not only for sound insulation, but could also guide the design of devices that absorb and convert acoustic energy to more useful forms of energy such as electric current. Moreover, a perfect acoustic absorber may also be an elegant solution to overcome the diffraction limit of acoustic waves. This is in fact what Sheng and colleagues report in Nature Materials: a nearly perfect acoustic absorber of deep-subwavelength dimensions1.

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Figure 1: A nearly perfect acoustic absorber1.

References

  1. Ma, G., Yang, M., Xiao, S., Yang, Z. & Sheng, P. Nature Mater. 13, 873–878 (2014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mathias Fink is at the Institut Langevin at the Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie de la Ville de Paris, Paris 75005, France,

    Mathias Fink

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  1. Mathias Fink
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Correspondence to Mathias Fink.

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Fink, M. Nearly perfect sound absorbers. Nature Mater 13, 848–849 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4067

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