2023/02/23 by Weijian Jiao, Hang Shu, Jiao, Weijian +7 · 2 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Acoustic Wave Phenomena Research #Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics Simulations and Interactions #Nonlinear Photonic Systems #Pattern Formation and Solitons (nlin.PS)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2302.12097
openalex publication_date 2023/02/23 · openalex created_date 2023/02/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In this work, we report observations of phase transitions in 2D multistable mechanical metamaterials that are initiated by collisions of soliton-like pulses in the metamaterial. Analogous to first-order phase transitions in crystalline solids, we experimentally and numerically observe that the multistable metamaterials support phase transitions if the new phase meets or exceeds a critical nucleus size. If this criterion is met, the new phase subsequently propagates in the form of transition waves, converting the rest of the metamaterial to the new phase. More interestingly, we observe that the critical nucleus can be formed via collisions of soliton-like pulses. Moreover, the rich direction-dependent behavior of the nonlinear pulses enables control of the location of nucleation and the spatio-temporal shape of the growing phase.