Dynamics of confined cavity modes in a phononic crystal slab investigated by in situ time-resolved experiments

The confinement of elastic waves within a single defect in a phononic crystal slab is investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The structure is formed by a honeycomb lattice of air holes in a silicon plate with one hole missing in its center. The frequencies and polarizations of the localized modes in the first band gap are computed with a finite element method. A noncontact laser ultrasonic technique is used both to excite flexural Lamb waves and to monitor in situ the displacement field within the cavity. We report on the time evolution of confinement, which is distinct according to the symmetry of the eigenmode. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.86.224302