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Drexhage's Experiment for Sound.

Lutz Langguth¹, Romain Fleury², Andrea Alù^1,2

¹Center for Nanophotonics, FOM Institute AMOLF, Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Physical Review Letters

|June 18, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

This study demonstrates that sound waves, like light, are affected by their environment. A Chinese gong near a hard wall shows changes in its sound, revealing its intrinsic radiation efficiency.

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Area of Science:

Acoustics
Optics
Quantum Optics

Background:

Spontaneous emission rates of fluorophores are influenced by their environment, as shown by Drexhage's experiment.
This environmental dependence affects radiative linewidths and shifts, and can be used to determine fluorescence quantum yields.

Purpose of the Study:

To present the acoustic analogue of Drexhage's seminal experiment.
To demonstrate radiative corrections to linewidth and line shift for sound waves.
To extract the intrinsic radiation efficiency of a sound source.

Main Methods:

Experimentally investigating the acoustic properties of a Chinese gong placed near a hard wall.
Measuring radiative corrections to linewidth and line shift.
Calculating intrinsic radiation efficiency.

Main Results:

The Chinese gong experiences radiative corrections to its linewidth and line shift when placed near a hard wall.
The intrinsic radiation efficiency of the gong was successfully extracted.

Conclusions:

The environment significantly impacts the radiative properties of sound sources, analogous to light emitters.
This work extends the principles of the Drexhage experiment to acoustics.
Opens new avenues for research in metamaterials, nanoantennas, and multipolar transitions.