Acoustic reflector remotely tunable by the acoustic radiation force

Specifically structured surface can be used to control acoustic waves reflection enabling wavefront shaping tailored for desired applications such as imaging or cloaking. With the development of metasurfaces, which enable changing the reflection of an incident acoustic wave at an interface using a sub-wavelength structure, it is possible to explore new frontiers of Snell-Descartes laws. However, the control over wave propagation is pre-established when using fixed structures, directing research towards metasurfaces reconfigurable in both time and space. This work proposes a metamaterial architecture using deformations of a fluid interface between two media through the acoustic radiation pressure (ARP). An analytical and numerical study is conducted to assess the phase shift on airborne acoustic wave induced by a unit cell featuring a Helmholtz resonator tuned by the water surface elevation induced by ARP. The possibility to program in real-time the phase shift is successfully tested experimentally for an incident wave of frequency 3400 Hz. The extension to a metasurface is introduced through the juxtaposition of 15 unit cell. A retroreflection effect is then numerically demonstrated, highlighting the effectiveness of the proposed approach. This concept of real-time and non-contact reconfigurable metasurface opens new possibilities for beam deflection, acoustic holography or information encoding.