Compact acoustic antenna design using labyrinthine metamaterials

We present an effective design and architecture for a class of acoustic antennas in air. The work begins with a conformal transformation method that yields the preliminary design, which is constructed using an isotropic but inhomogeneous material. However, the desired material parameters have been unavailable until now. Here we show that by scaling up the refractive index and optimizing the geometry in the preliminary design, a series of square antennas can be achieved to exhibit an excellent beam-collimating effect. An important part of our strategy is that the device’s thickness and material properties can be tailored easily to greatly facilitate its realization. It is also demonstrated that the proposed antenna can be made very thin and readily implemented using labyrinthine acoustic metamaterials.