Chiral Topological Phases in Designed Mechanical Networks
Mass-spring networks (MSNs) have long been used as approximate descriptions of biological and engineered systems, from actomyosin networks to mechanical trusses. In the last decade, MSNs have re-attracted theoretical interest as models for phononic metamaterials with exotic properties such as negati...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media SA
2020
|
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/123870 |
| _version_ | 1826201240318509056 |
|---|---|
| author | Ronellenfitsch, Henrik Michael Dunkel, Joern |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mathematics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mathematics Ronellenfitsch, Henrik Michael Dunkel, Joern |
| author_sort | Ronellenfitsch, Henrik Michael |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Mass-spring networks (MSNs) have long been used as approximate descriptions of biological and engineered systems, from actomyosin networks to mechanical trusses. In the last decade, MSNs have re-attracted theoretical interest as models for phononic metamaterials with exotic properties such as negative Poisson's ratio, negative effective mass, or gapped vibrational spectra. A numerical advantage of MSNs is their tuneability, which allows the inverse design of materials with pre-specified bandgaps. Building on this fact, we demonstrate here that designed MSNs, when subjected to Coriolis forces, can host topologically protected chiral edge modes at predetermined frequencies, thus enabling robust unidirectional transmission of mechanical waves. Similar to other recently discovered topological materials, the topological phases of MSNs can be classified by a Chern invariant related to time-reversal symmetry breaking. Keyword: Mechanical networks; Topological matter; Chern insulator; Classical mechanics and quantum mechanics; Edge modes |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:48:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/123870 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:48:53Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media SA |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1238702022-10-01T06:13:21Z Chiral Topological Phases in Designed Mechanical Networks Ronellenfitsch, Henrik Michael Dunkel, Joern Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mathematics Mass-spring networks (MSNs) have long been used as approximate descriptions of biological and engineered systems, from actomyosin networks to mechanical trusses. In the last decade, MSNs have re-attracted theoretical interest as models for phononic metamaterials with exotic properties such as negative Poisson's ratio, negative effective mass, or gapped vibrational spectra. A numerical advantage of MSNs is their tuneability, which allows the inverse design of materials with pre-specified bandgaps. Building on this fact, we demonstrate here that designed MSNs, when subjected to Coriolis forces, can host topologically protected chiral edge modes at predetermined frequencies, thus enabling robust unidirectional transmission of mechanical waves. Similar to other recently discovered topological materials, the topological phases of MSNs can be classified by a Chern invariant related to time-reversal symmetry breaking. Keyword: Mechanical networks; Topological matter; Chern insulator; Classical mechanics and quantum mechanics; Edge modes 2020-02-26T21:18:13Z 2020-02-26T21:18:13Z 2019-11 2019-07 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2296-424X https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/123870 Ronellenfitsch H and Dunkel J (2019)Chiral Topological Phases in DesignedMechanical Networks.Front. Phys. 7:178. © 2019 The Author(s) http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphy.2019.00178 Frontiers in Physics Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Frontiers Media SA Frontiers |
| spellingShingle | Ronellenfitsch, Henrik Michael Dunkel, Joern Chiral Topological Phases in Designed Mechanical Networks |
| title | Chiral Topological Phases in Designed Mechanical Networks |
| title_full | Chiral Topological Phases in Designed Mechanical Networks |
| title_fullStr | Chiral Topological Phases in Designed Mechanical Networks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chiral Topological Phases in Designed Mechanical Networks |
| title_short | Chiral Topological Phases in Designed Mechanical Networks |
| title_sort | chiral topological phases in designed mechanical networks |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/123870 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ronellenfitschhenrikmichael chiraltopologicalphasesindesignedmechanicalnetworks AT dunkeljoern chiraltopologicalphasesindesignedmechanicalnetworks |