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Bifurcation-based acoustic switching and rectification

Nature Materials volume 10, pages 665–668 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Switches and rectification devices are fundamental componentsused for controlling the flow of energy in numerous applications. Thermal1,2,3,4 and acoustic5,6,7,8 rectifiers have been proposed for use in biomedical ultrasound applications6,7, thermal computers2,9, energy- saving and -harvesting materials5,6, and direction-dependent insulating materials1,2,3. In all these systems the transition between transmission states is smooth with increasing signal amplitudes. This limits their effectiveness as switching and logic devices, and reduces their sensitivity to external conditions as sensors. Here we overcome these limitations by demonstrating a new mechanism for tunable rectification that uses bifurcations and chaos. This mechanism has a sharp transition between states, which can lead to phononic switching and sensing. We present an experimental demonstration of this mechanism, applied in a mechanical energy rectifier operating at variable sonic frequencies. The rectifier is a granular crystal, composed of a statically compressed one-dimensional array of particles in contact, containing a light mass defect near a boundary. As a result of the defect, vibrations at selected frequencies cause bifurcations and a subsequent jump to quasiperiodic and chaotic states with broadband frequency content. We use this combination of frequency filtering and asymmetrically excited bifurcations to obtain rectification ratios greater than 104. We envisage this mechanism to enable the design of advanced photonic, thermal and acoustic materials and devices.

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Figure 1: Schematics and conceptual diagrams.
Figure 2: Bifurcation and stability.
Figure 3: Experimental force–time response and power spectra.
Figure 4: Power transmission and energy distribution.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. C. Cross, C. Hannemann, P. G. Kevrekidis, M. A. Porter, A. W. Richards and T. Schneider for useful discussions. We thank V. Gabuchian, M. Mello and S. Job for help in the experiments. We acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation grants number 844540 (CAREER), 969541 and 0520565 (MRSEC). C.D. acknowledges the Office of Naval Research (YIP), and G.T. the A.S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation through Grant No. RZG 003/2010-2011.

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  1. N. Boechler and G. Theocharis: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

    N. Boechler & G. Theocharis

  2. C. Daraio

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  1. N. Boechler
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Contributions

N.B. and G.T. developed the system concept. N.B. led the experimental work. G.T. led the theoretical and numerical analysis. C.D. provided guidance and contributed to the design and analysis throughout the project. All authors contributed to the writing and editing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to C. Daraio.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Boechler, N., Theocharis, G. & Daraio, C. Bifurcation-based acoustic switching and rectification. Nature Mater 10, 665–668 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3072

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