Wave manipulation using a bistable chain with reversible impurities

TL;DR

This paper explores how bistable spring chains can support and manipulate both linear and nonlinear waves, enabling energy localization, reflectionless transmission, and reversible programming of wave dynamics through impurity-like features.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic study of wave behavior in bistable chains, revealing mechanisms for energy localization and reversible control of wave propagation via impurity-like effects.

Findings

Bistable chains support subsonic wavepackets and energy trapping.

Certain configurations lead to reflectionless wave transmission similar to RT effect.

Nonlinear waves can dynamically generate or remove impurities, enabling reversible control.

Abstract

We systematically study linear and nonlinear wave propagation in a chain composed of piecewise-linear bistable springs. Such bistable systems are ideal testbeds for supporting nonlinear wave dynamical features including transition and (supersonic) solitary waves. We show that bistable chains can support the propagation of subsonic wavepackets which in turn can be trapped by a low-energy phase to induce energy localization. The spatial distribution of these energy foci strongly affects the propagation of linear waves, typically causing scattering, but, in special cases, leading to a reflectionless mode analogous to the Ramsauer-Townsend (RT) effect. Further, we show that the propagation of nonlinear waves can spontaneously generate or remove additional foci, which act as effective "impurities". This behavior serves as a novel mechanism for reversibly programming the dynamic response of bistable chains.