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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

In a new twist, a team of researchers from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and the University of Texas at Austin has applied to acoustic waves the concept of "scattering cancellation," [sciencedaily.com] which has long been used to systematically cancel the dominant scattering modes of electromagnetic waves off objects.

The work provides fundamental new tools to control acoustic scattering and should improve the ability to make acoustic measurements in the laboratory. It is described this week in the Journal of Applied Physics, from AIP Publishing.

"Scattering" occurs when an object has material properties different than those of the medium surrounding it, such as air or water, and its "mode" is characterized by the way waves bounce off of it. By applying a coating with the appropriate material properties, electromagnetic scattering modes can be cancelled -- a process known as "scattering cancellation."

It turns out that this applies equally well to other types of waves, such as acoustic waves. As the team reports this week, the principles of scattering aren't limited to electromagnetic waves but are a fundamental feature of how any type of wave interacts with its environment.

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