Resonant excitation of coupled Rayleigh waves in a short and narrow fluid channel clad between two identical metal plates

Transmission of ultrasonic waves through a slit between two water immersed brass plates is studied for sub-wavelength plate thicknesses and slit apertures. Extraordinary high absorption is observed at discrete frequencies corresponding to resonant excitation of Rayleigh waves on the both sides of the channel. The coupling of the Rayleigh waves occurs through the fluid and the corresponding contribution to the dispersion has been theoretically derived and also experimentally confirmed. Symmetric and anti-symmetric modes are predicted but only the symmetric mode resonances have been observed. It follows from the dispersion equation that the coupled Rayleigh waves cannot be excited in a channel with apertures less than the critical one. The calculated critical aperture is in a good agreement with the measured acoustic spectra. These findings could be applied to design a broadband absorptive metamaterial.