Observation of Moir\'e Flat Bands in Sonic Crystals

TL;DR

This paper reports the first experimental observation of ultraflat moire bands in sonic crystals, revealing localized states and broad-angle flat band formation, advancing wave manipulation using moire structures.

Contribution

It presents the first direct observation of flat bands in moire sonic crystals, demonstrating their formation through weakly coupled potential-well states over various twist angles.

Findings

Observation of ultraflat bands in moire sonic crystals

Exponential decay of group velocity with moire period

Real-space visualization of localized states

Abstract

Recently, artificial moire superlattices of classical waves have aroused tremendous interest, inspired by the newly emergent twistronics that focuses on the peculiar electronic properties induced by flat bands. However, so far, the moire flat bands have not been observed directly. Here, we report the first experimental observation of ultraflat bands in moire sonic crystals with frequency-momentum spectra, together with a real-space visualization of the hallmark localized states. Strikingly different from the established magic angle mechanism for twisted bilayer graphene, the flat bands are formed by weakly coupled moire potential-well states inside a wide band gap, and can be realized over a broad range of twist angles. The average group velocity of the moire localized states, as a faithful reflection of the band flatness, decays exponentially with the moire period of the acoustic structure. Our findings, applicable to all artificial crystals, enable new possibilities for manipulating classical waves with moire structures.