Topologically Protected Transport in Engineered Mechanical Systems

TL;DR

This paper reviews how engineered mechanical systems can utilize topologically protected vibrational wave transport, drawing from concepts in physics and showcasing diverse experimental platforms and future challenges.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of topological transport in mechanical systems, unifying various approaches and experimental implementations in this emerging field.

Findings

Topologically protected vibrational transport has been demonstrated in various mechanical platforms.

Cross-disciplinary concepts from electronic, atomic, and electromagnetic systems have been adapted.

The field faces challenges but offers promising prospects for novel functionalities.

Abstract

Mechanical vibrations are being harnessed for a variety of purposes and at many length scales, from the macroscopic world down to the nanoscale. The considerable design freedom in mechanical structures allows to engineer new functionalities. In recent years, this has been exploited to generate setups that offer topologically protected transport of vibrational waves, both in the solid state and in fluids. Borrowing concepts from electronic physics and being cross-fertilized by concurrent studies for cold atoms and electromagnetic waves, this field of topological transport in engineered mechanical systems offers a rich variety of phenomena and platforms. In this review, we provide a unifying overview of the various ideas employed in this area, summarize the different approaches and experimental implementations, and comment on the challenges as well as the prospects.