Fabrication and experimental demonstration of a hybrid resonant acoustic gradient index metasurface at 40 kHz

Over the past few years, acoustic gradient index metasurfaces (GIMs) have been actively studied for the numerous wave control capabilities that they facilitate. Previous research, however, has primarily focused on GIMs that operate in the audible frequency range, due to the difficulties in fabricating such intricate structures at the millimeter and submillimeter scales, for ultrasonic applications. In this work, we design, fabricate, and experimentally demonstrate the working of a hybrid resonant acoustic gradient index metasurface for airborne ultrasound at 40 kHz. The fabrication of such a GIM is made possible by projection microstereolithography, an emerging additive manufacturing technique. Numerical simulations were conducted to verify the metasurface design, and experiments were performed to corroborate these simulations. The stronger dissipation associated with airborne ultrasound is highlighted in this paper. The experimental demonstration of such a metasurface for airborne ultrasound could further its prospects as a candidate for miniaturized acoustic devices.