A sonic crystal consists of a finite-size periodic array of scatters embedded in a background material. One of the fascinating properties of sonic crystals is the focusing phenomenon. In this study, the near field focusing effect of a solid-air 2D sonic crystal lens with a square lattice configuration is investigated in the second frequency band. The band structure and equifrequency contour of the crystal are analyzed to reveal the dispersion of an acoustic wave on the crystal structure. The frequency dependence of the acoustic wave focalization by the sonic crystal flat lens is demonstrated via Finite Difference Time Domain simulation results and experimental measurements.

Metal nanoshells are a type of nanoparticle composed by a dielectric core and a metallic coating. These nanoparticles have stimulated interest due to their remarkable optical properties. In common with metal colloids, they show distinctive absorption peaks at specific wavelengths due to surface plasmon resonance. However, unlike bare metal colloids, the wavelengths at which resonance occurs can be tuned by changing the core radius and coating thickness. One basic application of such property is in medicine, where it is hoped that nanoshells with absorption peaks in the near−infrared can be attached to cancerous cells. In this paper, we study the changes of optical response in visible and near infrared wavelengths from single to randomly distributed clusters of nanoshells. The results were obtained using a novel formulation of Mie theory in evanescent wave conditions, with a finite−difference time−domain (FDTD) simulation and experimentally on BaTiO₃−gold nanoshells using a scanning near−optical microscope. The results show that the optical signal of a randomly distributed cluster of nanoshells can be supplementary tuned with respect to the case of single nanoshell depending by the geometric configuration of the clusters.