Acoustic analogue of quantum tunneling

Klein tunneling is a counterintuitive quantum-mechanical phenomenon, predicting perfect transmission of relativistic particles through higher energy barriers. This phenomenon was shown to be supported at normal incidence in graphene due to pseudospin conservation. We show that Klein tunneling analogue can occur in classical systems, and remarkably, not relying on mimicking graphene's spinor wavefunction structure. Instead, the mechanism requires a particular form of constitutive parameters of the penetrated medium, yielding transmission properties identical to the quantum tunneling in graphene. We demonstrate this result by simulating tunneling of sound in a two-dimensional acoustic metamaterial. More strikingly, we show that by introducing a certain form of anisotropy, the tunneling can be made unimpeded for any incidence angle, while keeping most of its original Klein dispersion properties. This phenomenon may be denoted by the omnidirectional Klein-like tunneling. The new tunneling mechanism and its omnidirectional variant may be useful for applications requiring lossless and direction-independent transmission of classical waves. 

Read more

Feedback-based topological mechanical metamaterials

Non-Newtonian metamaterials emulating the quantum Hall effect

We introduced a method to design topological mechanical metamaterials that are not constrained by Newtonian dynamics. The unit cells in a mechanical lattice are subjected to active feedback forces that are processed through autonomous controllers, pre-programmed to generate the desired local response in real-time. As an example, we focused on the quantum Haldane model, a two-band topological system supporting the anomalous quantum Hall effect. This model breaks time-reversal symmetry via nonreciprocal coupling terms, the implementation of which in mechanical systems required violating Newton’s third law. We demonstrated that the required topological phase, characterized by chiral edge modes, can be achieved in an analogous mechanical system only with closed-loop control. We demonstrated that the resulting system has all the properties of the quantum model, supporting unidirectional, topologically-protected wave propagation along the metamaterial edges. Read more

Pseudo-spin multipole topological insulator
 
We derived a closed-loop control strategy to turn the same mass-spring lattice into a topological insulator, emulating the QSHE with no spinning elements. The underlying pseudospin-orbit coupling was obtained by breaking spatial symmetry in real-time. The feedback forces created effective unit cells with different inter and intra site couplings.

The modified Haldane model

We derived a control program to realize a non-Newtonian mechanical topological system with anti-chiral edge sates, on top of the same mass-spring lattice. The complex-valued couplings were polarized in a way that modes on opposite lattice edges propagate in the same direction, balanced by counter-propagating bulk modes. 

We realized active autonomous guiding of topological sound beams along arbitrary curved paths in free two-dimensional space. Acoustic transducers, embedded in a slab waveguide, generated desired dispersion profiles in closed-loop by processing real-time pressure field measurements through pre-programmed controllers.

We mimicked the quantum valley Hall effect by actively creating an alternating acoustic impedance pattern across the waveguide. The pattern was traversed by artificial reconfigurable trajectories of different shapes. By topological protection, sound waves between the plates remained localized on the trajectories. 

Read more

We converted a beam in axial vibration into a tunable and reconfigurable metamaterial using feedback control. Our control algorithm was capable to achieve different regimes of effective dynamic stiffness K and mass M for the same operating frequency, including zero stiffness and negative mass for wave propagation suppression, double negative parameters for backward wave propagation, and double zero parameters for total impedance matching. These properties could be activated, deactivated, or tuned in real-time, given that the design did not require any passive periodic feature embedded in the host structure, unlike traditional metamaterial designs. We considered an external actuation approach, by bonding actuators to an initially homogeneous beam. Read more

We designed active absorbers for wave propagation in a class of mechanical transmission-line metamaterials. The first absorber achieves a complete elimination of wave reflections from the metamaterial boundaries independently of the frequency regime. The associated controller was implemented in a feedback loop. The second absorber blocks wave propagation beyond a prescribed location at the metamaterial interior with minimized back-scattering, thus generating a sink without any physical boundary present. It was implemented in a feed-forward loop via a unique near uni-directional control wave method, using two concentrated actuators. Both the interior and boundary absorbers were based on an exact fractional order transfer function model that we derived for the metamaterial. The model explicitly exhibits essential wave characteristics, including delays, dispersion, impedance, boundary reflections etc. The resulting controllers were of fractional order as well, and were realized via a dedicated approximation technique. Read more

We created an absorber in the interior of a one-dimensional acoustic waveguide, using active control. The control goal was suppressing wave propagation beyond a prescribed region of the waveguide, but without perturbing the propagation within that region. Unlike boundary control, achieving full absorption in the interior constitutes a challenge of creating both a non-transmitting and a non-reflecting sink. We overcame this challenge by introducing a near uni-directional control wave, created with two concentrated actuators. The residual back-action wave is minimized based on the available control energy. We employed this control wave in two algorithms, a feed-forward and a feedback one, which we denoted by Interior Wave  Suppression.
Read more

We studied swing dynamics in electric power grids using a continuous approach. Rather than addressing the problem as oscillations in a discrete system, we modeled the swing dynamics as a propagating electro-mechanical wave. We used a ring geometry with a one-dimensional wave equation to analyze the underlying dynamics. We used the Interior Wave Suppression control method to damp the system dynamics. 

Unlike domains with boundaries such as strings, any concentrated input to the ring generates waves in two directions, thereby preventing total absorption. We showed that the modeling and control methods are implementable in a power grid using Phasor Measurement Units (PMU) as sensors and Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) devices, such as Thyristor Controlled Series Compensator (TCSC), as actuators.

Read more

We proposed a control algorithm for tracking of nonstiff elastic systems, such as bars in axial or torsional vibration or membranes in transverse vibration, etc., in dispersive medium. The algorithm was based on exact transfer function modeling with fractional order delay-like exponential terms, representing the response evolution due to dispersion. The control scheme involved actuation and measurement only at the structure boundaries, with three main loops.

The first was a velocity control loop that eliminated boundary wave reflections, thus suppressing the system's vibratory modes and actively rigidizing it. The second was position stabilization loop, which compensated the fractional order delay and placed the closed loop poles in any desired location. Finally, a pre-compensator eliminated medium dispersion regardless of the frequency, and produced a rational tracking system with a pure delay. Read more