WELCOME TO THE SIMBA LAB @ PENN STATE
The Sound Innovation of Metamaterials and Biomedical Acoustics (SIMBA) lab led by Dr. Jing at the Penn State University draws principles from mechanical wave physics and mathematics to develop the next generation of wave functional materials, diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound, and computational methods for acoustics. Jing’s lab strives to adopt these new technologies to facilitate a host of applications such as noise control, health care, energy harvesting, and sensing.
Elastic Metamaterial
Elastic metamaterials are rationally-designed periodic structures that are enabled by advanced additive manufacturing techniques. This class of sophesticated materials can possess“on-demand” elastic wave functionalities such as vibration shielding, waveguiding and energy harvesting, alongside other exciting features like ultra-low density, high stiffness, large negative Poisson’s ratios and negative thermal expansion.
Acoustic Metamaterial
Acoustic metamaterials are engineered materials made from subwavelength structures that exhibit useful or unusual constitutive properties. On the other hand, acoustic metasurfaces can be regarded as the 2D version of acoustic metamaterials with vanishing thickness, capable of tailoring the phase and amplitude of incident waves. These novel materials promise a host of exciting applications such as cloaking, ultra-thin sound absorbing materials, energy tunneling, and subwavelength imaging.
Phononic Crystals
Acoustic wave propagating through a periodic array of scatterers exhibits frequency regimes in which the wave ceases to propagate. These periodic acoustic systems are known as the phononic crystals. Like real crystals, phononic crystals have been routinely analyzed by their band structures, which provide crucial information on the dispersion and wave behavior of these man-made materials. The field of phononic crystals has recently enjoyed a strong revival, propelled by the discovery of topological phenomena in acoustic systems.
Biomedical Ultrasound
Our research lies at the interface of computational physics, therapeutic ultrasound, and medical imaging. We have been at the forefront of developing advanced algorithms for modeling medical ultrasound propagation in complex biological media. Our central vision is to apply the new algorithms developed in our lab to advance technologies in therapeutic ultrasound and ultrasound/ photoacoustic imaging, in order to enhance the broad impact of ultrasound in medicine.