Active control of membrane-type acoustic metamaterial by electric field

By employing a metal-coated central platelet and a rigid mesh electrode which is transparent to acoustic wave, we show that the membrane-type acoustic metamaterials (MAMs) can be easily tuned by applying an external voltage. With static voltage, the MAM's eigenfrequencies and therefore the phase of the transmitted wave are tunable up to 70 Hz. The MAM's vibration can be significantly suppressed or enhanced by using phase-matched AC voltage. Functionalities such as phase modulation and acoustic switch with on/off ratio up to 21.3 dB are demonstrated.