We report on the experimental observation of a one-octave-large omnidirectional elastic band gap for longitudinal waves in a three-dimensional phononic crystal consisting of face-centered-cubic arrays of close-packed steel beads in a solid epoxy matrix. The 60% relative width of the band gap is larger than expected based on the contrast in material properties, and is confirmed by band structure diagram and transmission spectra computations. The coupling between shear and longitudinal polarizations is pointed out as a mechanism for enlarging the band gap by comparing with the steel beads in water matrix case.
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