The mechanisms responsible for anomalously strong acoustic nonlinearities in multiphase, defected, and structurally inhomogeneous media are summarized, and nonlinear diagnostics — a fast-growing applied area of recent years — is reviewed in terms of its methods and applications. This paper is an expanded version of the introductory talk at the September 18, 2005 session of the RAS Physical Sciences Division. An abridge version of other talks presented in the session is also given in this issue of Physics-Uspekhi.

PACS: 43.25.+y, 62.20.Mk, 62.65.+k (all) DOI: 10.1070/PU2006v049n01ABEH005876 URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2006/1/d/ 000237789100004 2-s2.0-33744499181 2006PhyU...49...69R Citation: Rudenko O V "Giant nonlinearities in structurally inhomogeneous media and the fundamentals of nonlinear acoustic diagnostic techniques" Phys. Usp. 49 69–87 (2006) BibTexBibNote ® (generic)BibNote ® (RIS)MedlineRefWorks Оригинал: Руденко О В «Гигантские нелинейности структурно-неоднородных сред и основы методов нелинейной акустической диагностики» УФН 176 77–95 (2006); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.0176.200601e.0077