Discover
/
Article

Microwaves and sound

MAR 01, 1950
A recent development shows that obstacle arrays, modeled after the periodic structure of crystals, refract and focus not only electromagnetic waves, but sound waves as well.
Winston E. Kock

The use of lenses to focus waves other than those of light is not new, either in the field of acoustics or that of radio. Indeed, many physics students must have seen demonstrations of the bending of sound waves by a prism of carbon dioxide confined within a membrane. Hertz himself used prisms of pitch to bend the short radio waves with which he worked in demonstrating the like nature of light and of the electromagnetic radiation predicted by Maxwell. These were laboratory experiments, however, and it was not until lenses were used in connection with microwave antennas during and after the war that the full potentialities of the dioptrics of microwaves, and later, of sound, became apparent.

This article is only available in PDF format

More about the authors

Winston E. Kock, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J..

Related content
/
Article
A half century after the discovery of Hawking radiation, we are still dealing with the quantum puzzle it exposed.
/
Article
Since the discovery was first reported in 1999, researchers have uncovered many aspects of the chiral-induced spin selectivity effect, but its underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
/
Article
Metrologists are using fundamental physics to define units of measure. Now NIST has developed new quantum sensors to measure and realize the pascal.
/
Article
Nanoscale, topologically protected whirlpools of spins have the potential to move from applications in spintronics into quantum science.
This Content Appeared In
pt-cover_1950_03.jpeg

Volume 3, Number 3

Get PT newsletters in your inbox

pt_newsletter_card_blue.png
PT The Week in Physics

A collection of PT's content from the previous week delivered every Monday.

pt_newsletter_card_darkblue.png
PT New Issue Alert

Be notified about the new issue with links to highlights and the full TOC.

pt_newsletter_card_pink.png
PT Webinars & White Papers

The latest webinars, white papers and other informational resources.

By signing up you agree to allow AIP to send you email newsletters. You further agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.