Quantum revival for elastic waves in thin plate

TL;DR

This paper reports the experimental observation of quantum revival phenomena in elastic waves within a thin plate, demonstrating wave packet reconstruction analogous to quantum systems, using ultrasonic measurements in a 2D cavity.

Contribution

It presents the first experimental demonstration of quantum revival effects in classical elastic waves in a controlled 2D cavity environment.

Findings

Observation of full quantum revival in elastic waves

Detection of fractional revivals in a thin plate system

Elastic wave behavior mimics quantum Schrödinger dynamics

Abstract

Quantum revival is described as the time-periodic reconstruction of a wave packet initially localized in space and time. This effect is expected in finite-size systems which exhibits commensurable discrete spectrum such as the infinite quantum well. Here, we report on the experimental observation of full and fractional quantum revival for classical waves in a two dimensional cavity. We consider flexural waves propagating in thin plates, as their quadratic dispersion at low frequencies mimics the dispersion relation of quantum systems governed by Schr\"{o}dinger equation. Time-dependent excitation and measurement are performed at ultrasonic frequencies and reveal a periodic reconstruction of the initial elastic wave packet.