Tunable magnetoelastic phononic crystals

The feasibility of tuning the band structure of phononic crystals is demonstrated by employing magnetostrictive materials and applying an external magnetic field. Band structures are calculated with a plane wave expansion method that accounts for coupling between the elastic behavior and the magnetic field through the development of elastic, piezomagnetic, and magnetic permeability effective tensors. We show the contactless tunability of the absolute band gaps of a two-dimensional phononic crystal composed of an epoxy matrix and Terfenol-D inclusions. The tunable phononic crystal behaves like a transmission switch for elastic waves when the magnitude of an applied magnetic field crosses a threshold. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3236537]