Negative refractions of acoustic waves in a two-dimensional (2D) sonic crystal were studied both experimentally and theoretically. By calculating the acoustic band structure and equifrequency surfaces, we theoretically analyzed the acoustic single-beam negative refraction in the first band operating in the ultrasonic regime. A 2D square sonic crystal was constructed with 2.0-mm-diam steel cylinders arranged as square arrays of 2.5mm lattice constant. A scanning transmission measurement of spatial distribution was carried out to establish the acoustic refraction of a single Gaussian beam. It was demonstrated that the negative refraction is strongly dependent on both frequencies and incident angles, which shows great potential in acoustic devices.

Single-phase insulating BiFeO3 ceramics have been synthesized by a simple but effective method that conventional solid state reaction is followed immediately by quenching processing. At room temperature, the ceramics show a metastable, distorted rhombohedral phase and the refined structure parameters are presented based on x-ray diffraction. It is revealed that the formations of Fe2+ and oxygen deficiency are greatly suppressed by the quenching processing. Awell-saturated ferroelectric hysteresis loop with a large remnant polarization (2Pr=23.5μC/cm2) is observed with an applied field of 155kV/cm. Temperature-dependent magnetic property is investigated and weak ferromagnetism with a remnant magnetization of 4×10−6μB/Fe at 10K is established. These results may have implications for further studies on multiferroics.