Complex dispersion relation of Rayleigh-Bloch waves trapped by slow inclusions

Abstract: Rayleigh-Bloch waves are guided acoustic waves propagating along a periodic line of inclusions placed inside an open, infinite medium. Below the sound cone, they are transversely evanescent on both sides of the line of inclusions. Guidance is then achieved without any cladding surrounding the segmented core. Inclusions usually impose definite boundary conditions, resulting in a single guided band. We consider instead the case of permeable, slow inclusions inside a fast medium. Introducing the concept of guided quasi-normal modes, we obtain the complex dispersion relation taking into account radiation at infinity. We thus show that multiple bands of leaky Rayleigh-Bloch waves appear and that guided bound states in the continuum arise as a result of the combination of symmetry and periodicity.