Time modulated media with digital meta-atoms

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework for acoustic wave propagation in waveguides with time-modulated digital meta-atoms, revealing phenomena like exceptional points and mode conversion due to dispersion and time variation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel theory linking digital meta-atoms to time-varying dispersive materials, analyzing adiabatic and non-adiabatic regimes and their effects on wave behavior.

Findings

Identification of exceptional points with mode amplification

Derivation of reflection coefficients for abrupt changes

Control of mode conversion through digital meta-atom programming

Abstract

We develop the theory of acoustic wave propagation in a waveguide containing an array of time modulated digital meta-atoms, showing the equivalence between this array and a homogeneous, time varying, dispersive material. In the limit of an adiabatic time variation we find some choices of meta-atom coupling strength lead to exceptional points, where one mode is exponentially amplified and the adiabatic approximation breaks down. In the highly non--adiabatic limit we derive the analogue of reflection coefficients for an abrupt change in the meta-atom coupling. Due to dispersion we have both conversion between different types of modes, and different directions of propagation, which can be tuned through modifying the programmed response of the digital meta--atoms.