Steerable Radiation Forces with Frequency-Detuned Acoustic Metasurfaces
Abstract
We demonstrate that acoustic waves can induce controlled translation and rotation of macroscopic objects through small, but deliberate, detuning of the driving wave frequency. When an object is patterned with a suitably designed acoustic metasurface, small changes in the incident frequency ω± δω are converted into directional radiation forces and torques, enabling steerable motion even for objects much larger than the acoustic wavelength. We present the concept of a force-optimal metasurface topology and show that it enables fully reversible forces in real time: the object is moved in one direction for positively detuned incident frequency ω+δω and in the opposite direction for negatively detuned frequency ω−δω, where ω=22.5 kHz and δω=2.5 kHz for a proof of concept at inaudible frequencies. This mechanism is demonstrated experimentally at ultrasonic frequencies with 3D-printed metasurfaces. The proposed concept is scalable across frequencies and materials, offering a building block for realizing complex, remote-controlled, dynamical behaviors that can be programmed by reconfiguring material surface patterns.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{keller2026steerable,
title = {{Steerable Radiation Forces with Frequency-Detuned Acoustic Metasurfaces}},
author = {Sam Keller and Matthew Stein and Ognjen Ilic},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2606.22081},
eprint = {2606.22081},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.22081},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Steerable Radiation Forces with Frequency-Detuned Acoustic Metasurfaces
AU - Sam Keller
AU - Matthew Stein
AU - Ognjen Ilic
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/20
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2606.22081
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.22081
AB - We demonstrate that acoustic waves can induce controlled translation and rotation of macroscopic objects through small, but deliberate, detuning of the driving wave frequency. When an object is patterned with a suitably designed acoustic metasurface, small changes in the incident frequency ω± δω are converted into directional radiation forces and torques, enabling steerable motion even for objects much larger than the acoustic wavelength. We present the concept of a force-optimal metasurface topology and show that it enables fully reversible forces in real time: the object is moved in one direction for positively detuned incident frequency ω+δω and in the opposite direction for negatively detuned frequency ω−δω, where ω=22.5 kHz and δω=2.5 kHz for a proof of concept at inaudible frequencies. This mechanism is demonstrated experimentally at ultrasonic frequencies with 3D-printed metasurfaces. The proposed concept is scalable across frequencies and materials, offering a building block for realizing complex, remote-controlled, dynamical behaviors that can be programmed by reconfiguring material surface patterns.
ER -