Metascreen-Based Acoustic Passive Phased Array

Conventional phased arrays require a large number of sources in forming a complex wave front, resulting in complexity and a high cost to operate the individual sources. We present a passive phased array using an acoustic metascreen that transmits sound energy from a single source and steers the transmitted wave front to form the desired fields. The metascreen is composed of elements that have a discrete resolution along the screen at an order smaller than the wavelength, allowing for fine wave-front shaping beyond the paraxial approximation. The performance is verified in experiment by forming a self-bending beam. Our metascreen-based passive array with its simplicity and capability has applications in places where conventional active arrays are complex and have limitations.