Flat band degeneracy and near-zero refractive index materials in acoustic crystals

A Dirac-like cone is formed by utilizing the flat bands associated with localized modes in an acoustic crystal (AC) composed of a square array of core-shell-structure cylinders in a water host. Although the triply-degeneracy seems to arise from two almost-overlapping flat bands touching another curved band, the enlarged view of the band structure around the degenerate point reveals that there are actually two linear bands intersecting each other at the Brillouin zone center, with another flat band passing through the same crossing point. The linearity of dispersion relations is achieved by tuning the geometrical parameters of the cylindrical scatterers. A perturbation method is used to not only accurately predict the linear slopes of the dispersions, but also confirm the linearity of the bands from first principles. An effective medium theory based on coherent potential approximation is developed, and it shows that a slab made of the AC carries a near-zero refractive index around the Dirac-like point. Full-wave simulations are performed to unambiguously demonstrate the wave manipulating properties of the AC structures such as perfect transmission, unidirectional transmission and wave front shaping.