One of the challenges of modern crystallography of complex systems (complex metallic alloys, proteins, aperiodic crystals and quasicrystals) is to properly describe the disorder in these systems and discuss correctly the refinement results in terms of the structural disorder. In this paper we briefly discuss a new approach to phasons and phonons in quasicrystals and focus on the new theory of phonons in these materials. A newly derived correction factor for phonons in the form of the Bessel function is the approximated way of describing optic modes in the phonon spectra of quasicrystals. It is applied to a real decagonal quasicrystal in the Al-Cu-Rh system with 56/38 atoms per thick/thin structural unit, based on 2092 unique reflections selected from the collected diffraction data, significantly improving the refinement results. The final R-factor value is 7.24%, which is over 0.5% better result comparing to originally reported. We believe our work will open a broader discussion on the disorder in quasicrystals (and other aperiodic systems) and motivate to develop new approaches to treat the diffraction data influenced by different types of disorder in the new way.

In this work, the impact of the defect on the transmission of a mechanical wave in a periodic quasi-one-dimensional structure was investigated. The multilayer structure was made of PLA and air, while the defect layer was PNM-0.38PT with a significantly higher value of acoustic impedance in relation to the materials of the base structure. The influence of the position of the defect in the structure and its thickness was analysed. Transmission as a function of frequency was determined using the Transfer Matrix Method algorithm. The work showed the presence of band gaps in the analyzed structures. The influence of the symmetry of structures and substructures on the transmission of a mechanical wave was investigated. The influence of the number of layers with very low acoustic impedance (air) on the number of high transmission peaks with a small half-width was also demonstrated.

A challenge for developing acoustic metamaterials (AMMs) is considering the application of broadband muffling and load bearing capacity simultaneously. In this paper, a honeycomb based graded AMM muffler is proposed, which can widen the attenuation band and improve the structural stiffness without any external device by means of integrated design. Firstly, the acoustic and mechanical characteristics of the muffler unit cell are theoretically and numerically studied, and the graded muffler is designed based on these characteristics. The numerical results show that the graded muffler widens the attenuation bandwidth of the unit cell, and the simulation also shows that the graded muffler has greater stiffness than the uniform one. The stiffness driven muffler provides new possibilities for the design of advanced metamaterial with simultaneous sound insulation and load bearing performances.

Mechanical, electronic, thermodynamic phase diagram and optical properties of the FeVSb half-Heusler have been studied based on the density functional theory (DFT) framework. Studies have shown that this structure in the MgAgAs-type phase has static and dynamic mechanical stability with high thermodynamic phase consistency. Electronic calculations showed that this compound is a p-type semiconductor with an indirect energy gap of 0.39 eV. This compound’s optical response occurs in the infrared, visible regions, and at higher energies its dielectric sign is negative. The Plasmon oscillations have occurred in 20 eV, and its refraction index shifts to zero in 18 eV.

In the work, multi-criteria optimization of phononic structures was performed to minimize the transmission in the frequency range of acoustic waves, eliminate high transmission peaks with a small half-width inside of the band gap, and what was the most important part of the work – to minimize the number of layers in the structure. Two types of the genetic algorithm were compared in the study. The first one was characterized by a constant number of layers (GACL) of the phononic structure of each individual in each population. Then, the algorithm was run for a different number of layers, as a result of which the structures with the best value of the objective function were determined. In the second version of the algorithm, individuals in populations had a variable number of layers (GAVL) which required a different type of target function and crossover procedure. The transmission for quasi-one-dimensional phononic structures was determined with the use of the transfer matrix method algorithm. Based on the research, it can be concluded that the developed GAVL algorithm with an appropriately selected objective function achieved optimal solutions in a much smaller number of iterations than the GACL algorithm, and the value of the k parameter below 1 leads to faster achievement of the optimal structure.

This work concerns the study of the coatings for the ultrasound frequency range as a quasi one-dimensional phononic crystal structure protecting a sea object against high resolution active sonar in the frequency range most commonly found for this type of equipment. The topology of the examined structure was optimized to obtain a band gap in the 2.2-2.3 MHz frequency band. For this purpose, a genetic algorithm was used, which allows for optimal distribution of individual elements of the ultrasound multilayer composite. By optimal distribution is meant to achieve a structure that will allow minimal reflectance in a given frequency range without height reflectance peaks with a small half width. Analysis of the wave propagation was made using the Transfer Matrix Method (TMM). As part of the research, 15 and 20-layer structures with reflectance at the level of 0.23% and 0.18%, respectively, were obtained. Increasing the number of layers in the analyzed structures resulted in finding such a distribution in which a narrow band of low reflectance was obtained, such distributions could also be used as bandpass filters. The use of a genetic algorithm for designing allows to obtain modern coatings, the characteristics of which result from the structure.

The study examined the impact of the angle of incidence of mechanical waves on various types of quasi one-dimensional superlattice. Binary periodic structure, quasi-periodic distribution of Thue-Morse layers and Severin’s aperiodic multilayer were used. Using the concatenation and recursive rules, the distribution of layers was determined for individual structure types for generation numbers equal to 3, 4 and 5. The structures were selected so that the thickness of the composite was the same for each type of distribution for a given generation number value. Transfer Matrix Method algorithm was used to determine reflectance. The band structure of reflectance has been demonstrated for incidence angles up to 90 degrees at mechanical wave frequencies up to 50 kHz. The existence of wide bands of high reflectance above the acoustic frequencies was demonstrated for the analyzed structures. Increasing the layer thickness caused an inhomogeneous shifts of transmission peaks towards lower frequencies.

In this work we present the design and the manufacturing processes, as well as the acoustics standardization tests, of an acoustic barrier formed by a set of multi-phenomena cylindrical scatterers. Periodic arrangements of acoustic scatterers embedded in a fluid medium with different physical properties are usually called Sonic Crystals. The multiple scattering of waves inside these structures leads to attenuation bands related to the periodicity of the structure by means of Bragg scattering. In order to design the acoustic barrier, two strategies have been used: First, the arrangement of scatterers is based on fractal geometries to maximize the Bragg scattering; second, multi-phenomena scatterers with several noise control mechanisms, as resonances or absorption, are designed and used to construct the periodic array. The acoustic barrier reported in this work provides a high technological solution in the field of noise control.

The locally resonant phononic crystal (LRPC) composite double panel structure (DPS) made of a twodimensional periodic array of a two-component cylindrical LR pillar connected between the upper and lower composite plates is proposed. The plates are composed of two kinds of materials and periodically etched holes. In order to reveal the bandgap properties of structure theoretically, the band structures, displacement fields of eigenmodes and transmission power spectrums of corresponding 8 × 8 finite structure are calculated and displayed by using finite element method (FEM). Numerical results and further analysis demonstrate that if the excitation and response points are picked on different sides of the structure, a wide band gap with low starting frequency is opened, which can be treated as the coupling between dominant vibrations of pillars and plate modes. In addition, the influences of filled-in rubber, etched hole and viscidity of soft material on band gap are studied and understood with the help of “base-spring-mass” simplified model.

The study investigated the effect of the fill factor, lattice constant, and the shape and type of meta-atom material on the reduction of mechanical wave transmission in quasi-two-dimensional phononic structures. A finite difference algorithm in the time domain was used for the analysis, and the obtained time series were converted into the frequency domain using the discrete Fourier transform. The use of materials with large differences in acoustic impedance allowed to determine the influence of the meta-atom material on the propagation of the mechanical wave.

We investigate the light-current-voltage characteristics and emission spectra of 2.3 THz quantum cascade laser operating in the negative differential resistance (NDR) region. It was shown that the formation of electric field domains (EFDs) leads to a large number of discontinuities on the current-voltage and the total optical power on current characteristics. Measurements of emission spectra at different current (before the NDR region and in the NDR region) shows that the formation of EFDs results in decrease of the output intensity, but does not influence on Fabry-Perot multi-mode structure of THz QCL. The developed theoretical model predicts the formation of EFDs in the NDR region and qualitatively explain the experimental results.