Band-Gap Tuning in Two-Dimensional Spatiotemporal Phononic Crystals

We investigate the effect of small spatiotemporal modulations in subwavelength-dimensioned phononic crystals with large band gaps, on the frequency spectrum for elastic waves polarized in the plane of periodicity. When the radius of cylinders periodically placed inside a matrix of highly contrasting elastic properties is time varying, we find that due to the appearance of frequency harmonics throughout the spectrum, the notion of a band gap is destroyed in general, although with the appropriate tuning of parameters, in particular the modulation frequency, it is possible that some band-gap region is retained, making such systems possible candidates for tunable bandpass filters or phononic isolators, accordingly, and for sensor applications.