Opening a band gap in the free phononic crystal thin plate with or without a mirror plane

Abstract

The mechanism of opening a band gap in the free phononic crystal (PC) thin plate with or without a mirror plane is investigated. It is found that, in a PC plate with a mirror plane, the permitted modes can be separated into symmetric and antisymmetric modes, and the band gap in such a system can be opened by the interaction between the modes of the same kind and/or the breaking of the degeneracy of the mode at the edge of the Brillouin zone. However, for a PC plate without a mirror plane, mode separation can no longer be performed, and interaction can occur between any two permitted modes. As a result, a new kind of band gap can be opened. © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd.