: The fine manipulation of sound fields is critical in acoustics yet is restricted by the coupled amplitude and phase modulations in existing wave-steering metamaterials. Commonly, unavoidable losses make it difficult to control coupling, thereby limiting device performance. Here we show the possibility of tailoring the loss in metamaterials to realize fine control of sound in three-dimensional (3D) space. Quantitative studies on the parameter dependence of reflection amplitude and phase identify quasi-decoupled points in the structural parameter space, allowing arbitrary amplitude-phase combinations for reflected sound. We further demonstrate the significance of our approach for sound manipulation by producing self-bending beams, multifocal focusing, and a single-plane two-dimensional hologram, as well as a multi-plane 3D hologram with quality better than the previous phase-controlled approach. Our work provides a route for harnessing sound via engineering the loss, enabling promising device applications in acoustics and related fields.

We introduce a multicoiled acoustic metasurface providing quasiperfect absorption (reaching 99.99% in experiments) at an extremely low-frequency of 50 Hz, simultaneously featuring an ultrathin thickness down to λ/527 (1.3 cm). In contrast to the state of the art, this original conceived multicoiled metasurface offers additional degrees of freedom capable of tuning the acoustic impedance effectively without increasing the total thickness. We provide analytical derivation, numerical simulation, and experimental demonstrations for this unique absorber concept, and discuss its particular physical mechanism. Furthermore, based on the same conceptual approach, we propose a broadband low-frequency metasurface absorber by coupling unit cells exhibiting different properties.

A severe limitation of current acoustic metasurfaces remains in their modest tunability to meet multifrequency requirements and alterable functionalities on demand. Here, a reconfigurable curved acoustic metasurface for acoustic cloaking and illusion is reported. The structure is composed of an array of tunable helical units to break this limitation and realize continuously versatile sound manipulations. We theoretically, numerically and experimentally investigate the channel length represented by the helical depth, which is used to achieve full 2π phase shift continuously over the frequency range from 2 to 7 kHz. As pragmatic examples, we present by full-wave numerical simulations the concept of a curved metasurface for the continuously tunable acoustic multifunction, including broadband carpet cloaking and ground illusion at a wide working band. Then, we experimentally demonstrate these functionalities by showing an excellent effect to restore the disturbed reflective field from a cloaked object or to mimic an arbitrary shaped ground.

We demonstrate multifunctional acoustic metasurfaces that can simultaneously realize the same functionality or multiple different functionalities at multiple tunable frequencies. The fundamental physical mechanism is based on designing a supercell of Helmholtz resonators with multiple resonances operating at different frequencies. We theoretically, numerically, and experimentally demonstrate the achievement of multiple functionalities by the proposed designed metastructure, which produces extraordinary reflection at different angles and different acoustic focusing localizations under the same normal incidence. Our finding paves the way towards multifunctional compact acoustic devices and can lead to pragmatic contemporary applications such as multiple beam shaping, or functional devices with special dispersion properties.

Classical meta-absorber designs usually have a tradeoff between bandwidth, efficiency, and thickness. Here, we introduce the concept of a nonlocal acoustic metasurface absorber by using a bridge structure connecting resonating unit cells to improve the performances of the meta-absorber. By utilizing the coupling effect between the adjacent unit cells, ultrabroadband sound absorption is achieved with deep-wavelength thickness. The physical mechanism of the nonlocal acoustic metasurface absorber is investigated and uncovered by developing analytical models. We theoretically and numerically study the nonlocal metasurface with a connecting bridge and the traditional metasurface without a bridge. The nonlocality can introduce three specific effects: the optimization of effective acoustic impedances, the shift of Fabry-Perot resonant frequencies, and the enhancement of the coupling effects between adjacent unit cells. These effects contribute to improve the bandwidth and the efficiency of the acoustic meta-absorber. We numerically and experimentally achieve an average absorption coefficient larger than 0.9 within the ultrabroadband bandwidth extending from about 600 to 2600 Hz, with a metasurface of 6.8 cm, viz., λ/9 for the lowest frequency. Our finding demonstrates the advantage of nonlocal acoustic metasurface to conceive a subwavelength sound meta-absorber.

The discovery of the disorder effect in traditional metamaterials has opened up possibilities in the search for disordered metasurfaces. Photonic, dielectric, and elastic metamaterials that exhibit added value of the disorder effect on wave-propagation physics are reported. Despite this extensive attention and progress in disordered metamaterials, elastic metasurfaces, however, involving disorder have not yet been reported. Here, we introduce the concept of disordered elastic metasurface composed of identical pillared resonators with a random arrangement in the subwavelength range. Based on theoretical formalism and direct acoustic measurement, we observe anomalous deflection and focusing effects of flexural waves in a plate and elucidate, in detail, the related physics. This research extends the disorder effect to metasurfaces and may lead to innovative acoustoelastic devices.