Wave Transport in Fourier Quasicrystals Revealed by Water Waves

Abstract

Fourier quasicrystals are aperiodic structures whose diffraction spectrum consists not of a dense set of Bragg peaks, as in ordinary quasicrystals, but of isolated ones scattered across a discrete, nonperiodic set. This sparse reciprocal-space structure should leave wave transport largely undisturbed except at a few selected wavevectors. We put this prediction to the test using surface water waves scattering off a two-dimensional Fourier quasicrystal. Full-field measurements reveal three distinct transport regimes as the incident wavevector increases: transparency, selective scattering, and strong scattering. By reconstructing the structure factor from the measured wavefields, we directly relate these regimes to the underlying reciprocal-space structure. Our results establish Fourier quasicrystals as a physical platform in which wave transport can be controlled through the organization of diffraction peaks in reciprocal space.