Sharp bends of phononic crystal surface modes

Sharp bending of surface waves at the interface of a two-dimensional phononic crystal (PnC) of steel cylinders in air and the method of using a diagonally offset cylindrical scatterer are numerically demonstrated by finite-element method simulations. The radii of the diagonally offset scatterer and the cylinder at the PnC corner, along with the distance between them, are treated as optimization parameters in the genetic algorithm optimization of sharp bends. Surface wave transmittance of at most 5% for the unmodified sharp bend is significantly enhanced to approximately 75% as a result of optimization. A series of transmittance peaks whose maxima increase exponentially, as their widths reduce, with increasing frequency is observed for the optimized sharp bend. The transmittance peaks appear at frequencies corresponding to integer plus half-beat periods, depending on the finite surface length. The optimal parameters are such that the cylinder radius at the PnC corner is not significantly modified, whereas a diagonally offset scatterer having a diameter of almost two periods and a shortest distance of about 0.7 periods between them is required for the strongest transmittance peak. Utilization of PnC surface sharp bends as acoustic ring resonators is demonstrated.