Steering sound propagation with Zeno barriers in acoustic waveguide arrays

In quantum systems, a counterintuitive phenomenon known as quantum Zeno dynamics is usually exploited to tailor and protect the coherent evolution of quantum states by the back action of quantum measurements and strong couplings. Here, with the quantum-classical analogy, we report that the acoustic Zeno dynamics can be reproduced in acoustic waveguide arrays by setting segmented waveguides. We experimentally demonstrate that the segmented waveguide acts as an acoustic barrier to tailor the whole Hilbert space into different subspaces by separating the communication between waveguides. By arranging the acoustic Zeno barriers, we can control the sound transport in waveguide arrays into the target output ports, such as the Zeno dynamics, analog-quantum walk, and analog-quantum logic gates. In this context, we highlight that the Zeno barrier can be a versatile tool to arbitrarily control and guide the sound transport in waveguide arrays, which can provide an alternative choice for acoustic metamaterials and metasurfaces without cumbersome and complicated structure design. The acoustic Zeno barrier may provide a versatile approach to manipulate acoustic wave propagation for designing advanced on-chip integrated sound devices.