An invisible acoustic sensor based on parity-time symmetry

Romain Fleury, Dimitrios Sounas and Andrea Alù ()
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Romain Fleury: The University of Texas at Austin
Dimitrios Sounas: The University of Texas at Austin
Andrea Alù: The University of Texas at Austin

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Sensing an incoming signal is typically associated with absorbing a portion of its energy, inherently perturbing the measurement and creating reflections and shadows. Here, in contrast, we demonstrate a non-invasive, shadow-free, invisible sensor for airborne sound waves at audible frequencies, which fully absorbs the impinging signal, without at the same time perturbing its own measurement or creating a shadow. This unique sensing device is based on the unusual scattering properties of a parity-time (PT) symmetric metamaterial device formed by a pair of electro-acoustic resonators loaded with suitably tailored non-Foster electrical circuits, constituting the acoustic equivalent of a coherent perfect absorber coupled to a coherent laser. Beyond the specific application to non-invasive sensing, our work broadly demonstrates the unique relevance of PT-symmetric metamaterials for acoustics, loss compensation and extraordinary wave manipulation.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6905

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