Periodic Structure with Electrostatic Forces: Interactions Beyond the Nearest Neighbor

TL;DR

This paper explores how electrostatic forces influence the wave behavior and band structure of periodic metamaterials, especially considering interactions beyond nearest neighbors, and demonstrates tunability via electric voltages.

Contribution

It introduces a study of electrostatically driven periodic structures with beyond-nearest-neighbor interactions, highlighting their complex band structures and voltage-tunable properties.

Findings

Electrostatic forces significantly affect wave propagation in periodic structures.

Beyond-nearest-neighbor interactions lead to more complex band structures.

Electric voltages can tune the properties of these metamaterials.

Abstract

Periodic structures are a type of metamaterial in which the physical properties depend not only on the details of the unit cell but also on how unit cells are arranged and interact with each other. In conventional engineering structures, each unit cell interacts with adjacent cells. Methods developed for vibrational and wave propagation analysis in periodic engineering structures consider only nearest-neighbor interactions. The dispersion curves of such systems, in which only adjacent cells interact, have been extensively studied. Metamaterial properties depend on the interactions of a unit cell with other cells. Further interactions, and specifically, interactions beyond the closest neighbors, imply a more complex band structure and wave behavior. In this paper, an example class of such structures, in which electrostatic forces are the driving force, has been investigated. In this paper, properties affecting these periodic structures, such as elastic forces, have been investigated. An interesting property of such structures is that the band structures of such metamaterials can be tuned by changing electric voltages.