Pathway towards programmable wave anisotropy in cellular metamaterials

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a proof-of-concept for controlling wave anisotropy in cellular metamaterials using tunable electromechanical resonators, enabling reprogrammable directional wave manipulation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to reprogram wave anisotropy in cellular metamaterials via independently tunable piezoelectric resonators, allowing dynamic control of wave propagation.

Findings

Resonators can be reprogrammed without affecting the cellular structure.

Selective activation of resonators modifies wave anisotropy.

Tunable patterns enable non-symmetric wavefield correction.

Abstract

In this work, we provide a proof-of-concept experimental demonstration of the wave control capabilities of cellular metamaterials endowed with populations of tunable electromechanical resonators. Each independently tunable resonator comprises a piezoelectric patch and a resistor-inductor shunt, and its resonant frequency can be seamlessly re-programmed without interfering with the cellular structure's default properties. We show that, by strategically placing the resonators in the lattice domain and by deliberately activating only selected subsets of them, chosen to conform to the directional features of the beamed wave response, it is possible to override the inherent wave anisotropy of the cellular medium. The outcome is the establishment of tunable spatial patterns of energy distillation resulting in a non-symmetric correction of the wavefields.