Negative birefraction of acoustic waves in a sonic crystal

Optical birefringence and dichroism are classical and important effects originating from two independent polarizations of optical waves in anisotropic crystals(1). Furthermore, the distinct dispersion relations of transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarized electromagnetic waves in photonic crystals can lead to birefringence more easily(2-6). However, it is impossible for acoustic waves in the fluid to show such a birefringence because only the longitudinal mode exists. The emergence of an artificial sonic crystal (SC) has significantly broadened the range of acoustic materials in nature(7-18) that can give rise to acoustic bandgaps and be used to control the propagation of acoustic waves. Recently, negative refraction has attracted a lot of attention and has been demonstrated in both left-handed materials and photonic crystals(19-26). Similar to left-handed materials and photonic crystals, negative refractions have also been found in SCs14-18. Here we report, for the first time, the acoustic negative-birefraction phenomenon in a two-dimensional SC, even with the same frequency and the same 'polarization' state. By means of this feature, double focusing images of a point source have been realized. This birefraction concept may be extended to other periodic systems corresponding to other forms of waves, showing great impacts on both fundamental physics and device applications.