Wave mechanics in media pinned at Bravais lattice points

TL;DR

This paper develops an asymptotic theory for wave propagation in media with periodic inclusions on Bravais lattices, capturing effects like anisotropy and localization, and compares effective medium solutions with exact Fourier-based results.

Contribution

It introduces a novel asymptotic framework for arbitrarily-shaped inclusions on general Bravais lattices, enabling detailed analysis of wave phenomena including anisotropy and localization.

Findings

Effective medium equations capture wave anisotropy and localization.

Asymptotic solutions agree with exact Fourier solutions.

Geometry influences wave behavior significantly.

Abstract

The propagation of waves through microstructured media with periodically arranged inclusions has applications in many areas of physics and engineering, stretching from photonic crystals through to seismic metamaterials. In the high-frequency regime, modelling such behaviour is complicated by multiple scattering of the resulting short waves between the inclusions. Our aim is to develop an asymptotic theory for modelling systems with arbitrarily-shaped inclusions located on general Bravais lattices. We then consider the limit of point-like inclusions, the advantage being that exact solutions can be obtained using Fourier methods, and go on to derive effective medium equations using asymptotic analysis. This approach allows us to explore the underlying reasons for dynamic anisotropy, localisation of waves, and other properties typical of such systems, and in particular their dependence upon geometry. Solutions of the effective medium equations are compared with the exact solutions, shedding further light on the underlying physics. We focus on examples that exhibit dynamic anisotropy as these demonstrate the capability of the asymptotic theory to pick up detailed qualitative and quantitative features.