Nonlinear phononics using atomically thin membranes

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that atomically thin, periodically pinned membranes can support coupled localized modes with nonlinear dynamics, offering a new platform for exploring nonlinear phononics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel system of atomically thin membranes with nonlinear dynamics, advancing the study of nonlinear phononic crystals and acoustic meta-materials.

Findings

Atomically thin membranes support coupled localized modes.

These modes exhibit nonlinear dynamics.

The system enables investigation of nonlinear phononics.

Abstract

Phononic crystals and acoustic meta-materials are used to tailor phonon and sound propagation properties by facilitating artificial, periodic structures. Analogous to photonic crystals, phononic band gaps can be created, which influence wave propagation and, more generally, allow engineering of the acoustic properties of a system. Beyond that, nonlinear phenomena in periodic structures have been extensively studied in photonic crystals and atomic Bose-Einstein Condensates in optical lattices. However, creating nonlinear phononic crystals or nonlinear acoustic meta-materials remains challenging and only few examples have been demonstrated. Here we show that atomically thin and periodically pinned membranes support coupled localized modes with nonlinear dynamics. The proposed system provides a platform for investigating nonlinear phononics.