Controlling surface acoustic waves (SAWs) via temporally graded metasurfaces
Jonatha Santini, Xingbo Pu, Antonio Palermo, Francesco Braghin, Emanuele Riva
Abstract
In this manuscript, the temporal rainbow effect for surface acoustic waves (SAWs) is illustrated through a temporal analog of space metagradings. We show that a time-modulated array of mechanical resonators induces a wavenumber-preserving frequency transformation which, in turn, dictates Rayleigh-to-Shear wave conversion. The process is unfolded through the adiabatic theorem, which allows us to delineate the transition between a solely frequency-converted wave packet and a temporally-driven mode conversion. In other words, our paper explores the role of time modulation in the context of elastic metasurfaces, and we envision our implementation to be suitable for designing a new family of SAW devices with frequency conversion, mode conversion, and unusual transport capabilities.