Optimal Design of an Acoustic Lens with Anisotropic Metamaterial

Van Nam Hoang, Minh Ngoc Nguyen · Vietnam Maritime University · 2026

By optimizing the sizes of random rigid scatterers in an anisotropic acoustic metamaterial, the lens achieves subwavelength focusing beyond the diffraction limit.

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Plain English summary

The paper presents an optimal-design approach for an acoustic lens made from an anisotropic metamaterial. The lens is built from random rigid scatterers embedded in a matrix, and the scatterer sizes are used as design variables in the optimization problem. Numerical examples show that the optimized lens can focus plane sound waves into a focal region smaller than the wavelength scale. The reported result includes subwavelength focusing with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) and a sound pressure level (SPL) of 14.7 dB at the focal point. The abstract attributes the performance beyond the diffraction limit to enhancement of evanescent waves through multiple scattering, and it suggests the design could support a wide operating frequency range.

Why this matters

The abstract claims novelty in using advanced optimal techniques to design an anisotropic metamaterial acoustic lens where scatterer sizes are optimized to achieve subwavelength focusing beyond the diffraction limit. The abstract reports numerical demonstrations only and does not provide evidence of prototypes, field testing, or commercialization.

Key findings

  • Optimized acoustic lens uses anisotropic metamaterial with random rigid scatters in a matrix.
  • Scatterer sizes are treated as optimization design variables.
  • Numerical results show subwavelength focusing of plane waves to a focal region.
  • Subwavelength performance surpasses the diffraction limit via evanescent-wave enhancement through multiple scattering.
  • The optimized lens is suggested to enable a wide operating frequency range.

Limitations

The abstract provides only numerical examples and does not state experimental validation, fabrication details, robustness to manufacturing tolerances, or the exact operating frequency range.

Publication

Publisher
Vietnam Maritime University
Publication date
March 30, 2026
Research type
Paper

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Method note: Summaries and ratings on this page are generated by AI from the abstract only. Read the original paper for full context. · Model: gpt-5.4-nano-2026-03-17