Evidences of evanescent Bloch waves in phononic crystals

Abstract

We show both experimentally and theoretically the evanescent behavior of modes in the band gap of finite phononic crystal (PC). Based on experimental and numerical data we obtain the imaginary part of the wave vector in good agreement with the complex band structures obtained by the extended plane wave expansion. The calculated and measured acoustic field of a localized mode out of the point defect inside the PC presents also evanescent behavior. The correct understanding of evanescent modes is fundamental for designing narrow filters and waveguides based on PCs with defects.