Arbitrary multi-directional acoustic beam emission from a cylindrical metasurface with grafted topological charge

Abstract

Directional sound beam emission from compact devices is highly desirable in many practical acoustic applications. Here, we present an approach for the efficient control of arbitrary multi-directional emission through a grafted metasurface that is designed by cutting and stitching two cylindrical phase-gradient metasurfaces carrying two opposite topological charges. The grafted metasurface provides a compact and robust platform for diverse multi-directional beam emission, whose beam number and azimuthal angles are precisely controlled by the topological charge. The underlying mechanism contributes to the wave interference of two opposite partial vortex waves. This scheme was verified by simulation and experimental results. Our work provides a design methodology for directional sound beam emission devices and may be useful for applications such as acoustic imaging, beam steering, and vortex detection.