Sonic Crystal

A periodic array of scatterers creates a phononic crystal with acoustic bandgaps — frequency ranges where sound cannot propagate, by analogy with photonic crystals and electron bands.

Wave Propagation Through Crystal
Scatterer
Pressure +
Pressure −
Bandgap (blocked)
Dispersion & Bandgap
1st bandgap center: -- Hz
Bandgap width: -- Hz
Rows: 5 × Cols: 8
Bragg condition:
f_gap = n·c / (2a)
1st gap: f = c/(2a)
Filling fraction: π(r/a)²
A sonic crystal is a metamaterial made of a periodic arrangement of rigid or soft cylinders in air (or vice versa). When the acoustic wavelength is comparable to the lattice constant, Bragg scattering creates destructive interference — a phononic bandgap. Below the bandgap: waves pass. In the gap: evanescent decay. Discovery by Kushwaha et al. (1993) and experimentally demonstrated with marble cylinders by Martinez-Sala et al. (1995, "Music and Science").