2022/08/27 by Jingjing Liu, Liu, Jing-jing, Zheng-wei Li +7
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Materials Science · #Acoustic Wave Phenomena Research #Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) #Classical Physics (physics.class-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications #Underwater Acoustics Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2208.12999
openalex publication_date 2022/08/27 · openalex created_date 2022/08/31 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Efficiently receiving underwater sound remotely from air is a long-standing challenge in acoustics hindered by the large impedance mismatch at the water-air interface. Here we introduce and experimentally demonstrate a technique for remote and efficient water-to-air eavesdropping through phase-engineered impedance matching metasurfaces. By judiciously engineering an ultrathin mechanically-rigid boundary, we make the water-air interface acoustically transparent and at the same time we are able to pattern the transmitted wavefront, enabling efficient control over the effective spatial location of a distant airborne sensor such that it can measure underwater signals with large signal-to-noise ratio as if placed close to the physical underwater source. Such airborne eavesdropping of underwater sound is experimentally demonstrated with a measured sensitivity enhancement exceeding 38 dB at 8 kHz. We further demonstrate opportunities for orbital-angular-momentum-multiplexed communications and underwater acoustic communications. Our metasurface opens new avenues for communication and sensing, which may be translated to nano-optics and radio-frequencies.