Broadband control of water wave energy amplification in chirped arrays

Water waves in natural environments are typically broadband, nonlinear and dynamic phenomena. Taking concepts developed for slow light in optics, we address the challenge of designing arrays to control the spatial distribution of wave energy, and amplify target frequencies at specified locations. Experiments on incident waves interacting with a chirped array of eight vertical cylinders demonstrate significant amplifications as predicted numerically, and provide motivation for application to energy harvesting.