Acoustic selective skin effect in a coupled ring lattice

Abstract

The exploration of non-Hermitian effects is essential for advancing both the theoretical understanding and practical applications of fundamental physics, and has garnered significant attention in the past few decades. The non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE), when combined with other physical mechanisms, enables flexible and intriguing manipulation of wave transport. Recent theoretical study demonstrates that a distinctive non-Hermitian Hamiltonian with real eigenvalues can be constructed, enabling the emergence of the selective skin effect. Here, we verify that the selective non-Hermitian skin effect can be induced by cooperative interaction between the skin effect and localization modes, characterized by a reinforced skin state in the zero mode. With delicately designed parameters, we further visualize the selective NHSE via full-wave simulations and experiments in acoustic ring lattices. Our results enrich the perspectives of non-Hermitian effects research and expand the avenues for wave manipulation, offering insights into potential acoustic device applications such as energy harvesting and sensing.