Science Daily December 6, 2022
The transfer of wave momentum is a fundamental mechanism for contactless manipulation, yet the rules of conventional scattering intrinsically limit the radiation force based on the shape and the size of the manipulated object. Researchers at the University of Minnesota showed that this intrinsic limit can be broken for acoustic waves with subwavelength metasurfaces. Harnessing anomalous metasurface scattering, they demonstrated self-guidance, where a metasurface object is autonomously guided by an acoustic wave, and tractor beaming, where a metasurface object is pulled by the wave. According to the researchers their results show that bringing the metasurface physics of acoustic waves, and its full arsenal of tools, to the domain of mechanical manipulation opens new frontiers in contactless actuation and enables diverse actuation mechanisms that are beyond the limits of traditional wave-matter interactions…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Shaping contactless forces with metasurfaces that steer acoustic waves. Credit: Nature Communications volume 13, Article number: 6533 (2022)Â