Spoof-Fluid-Spoof Acoustic Waveguide and its Applications for Sound Manipulation

We explore the implementation of a spoof–fluid-spoof (SFS) acoustic waveguide, which is the acoustic analogue of a metal-insulator–metal waveguide in plasmonics. The proposed structure consists of two corrugated rigid surfaces separated by a fluid layer. The properties of the guided acoustic modes between corrugated rigid parallel plates are analytically and numerically studied by deriving their dispersion relation and through a careful analysis of symmetric and antisymmetric modes supported by this structure. Similar to plasmonic waveguides, it is shown that the dispersion relation of the proposed SFS acoustic waveguide, and the supported group and phase velocities, can be largely controlled by changes in the geometrical parameters of the waveguide, opening the possibility for application of this technology for acoustic delay lines, modulators, and sensors. The analytical and numerical results are validated through experiments in a controlled environment.