Double Negative Metamaterials in Water Waves

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel double negative metamaterial for water waves that enables tunable negative refraction, with potential applications in coastal engineering and wave control, validated through simulations and experiments.

Contribution

It presents a new uniform array structure for water wave DNMs that achieves effective negative water depth and gravity, improving control over wave propagation.

Findings

Validated by simulations of wave bending and imaging

Experimental water wave bending demonstration

Predicted parameters align with band structure simulations

Abstract

Water waves present both opportunities and hazards, which demand precise control to effectively exploit their energy and mitigate their destructive effects. Leveraging the unique propagation characteristic of negative refraction enables versatile strategies for achieving such control. Here, we propose a Veselago-Pendry double negative metamaterial (DNM) for water waves constructed by nested gears and split tubes. This uniform array structure realizes effective negative water depth and gravity distributions, enabling tunable negative refraction that resolves the unclear structure-propagation relationships and stringent layout requirements of prior negative refraction structures. By employing coherent potential approximation (CPA), negative effective water depth ue and gravity ge are predicted. The predicted DNM parameters align well with band structures, and are validated by simulations of isolation, wave bending and all-angle imaging with surface waves excitation. A simplified experiment demonstrating water wave bending was successfully performed, matching the analytical predictions and simulation results well. Through quantitative mapping between structural parameters and propagation properties that enables tunable bandgaps and controllable negative refraction, DNMs furnish a transformative toolkit for coastal engineering, and are able to calm harbors, boost wave-energy harvesters, and steer river-bend currents to curb erosion.