Tunable waveguide and cavity in a phononic crystal plate by controlling whispering-gallery modes in hollow pillars

Abstract

We investigate the properties of a phononic crystal plate with hollow pillars and introduce the existence of whispering-gallery modes (WGMs). We show that by tuning the inner radius of the hollow pillar, these modes can merge inside both Bragg and low frequency band gaps, deserving phononic crystal and acoustic metamaterial applications. These modes can be used as narrow pass bands for which the quality factor can be greatly enhanced by the introduction of an additional cylinder between the hollow cylinder and the plate. We discuss some functionalities of these confined WGM in both Bragg and low frequency gaps for wavelength division in multiplexer devices using heteroradii pillars introduced into waveguide and cavity structures.