Scientists Reveal Secrets of Phonons in New Trampoline Design!

Scientists Reveal Secrets of Phonons in New Trampoline Design!

A groundbreaking development in physics has produced a new structure that acts as a waveguide for phonons. This innovative technology, a trampoline made of silicon nitride, was designed by a team of physicists from the University of Konstanz, the University of Copenhagen and ETH Zurich. With a width of just 0.2 millimeters and a jumping mat that is 20 millionths of a millimeter thick, the trampoline is characterized by a pattern of triangular holes and swings in different directions. At the center, a remarkable “trampoline within a trampoline” occurs, with the vibrations running in a perfect triangular pattern. Such properties make it possible to conduct phonons “around corners” with almost no loss.

Phonons, which are described as “sound quanta,” are essential components of the vibrations in the crystal lattice of a solid. Loud uni-konstanz.de This trampoline can guide phonons around tight turns of up to 120 degrees, with a loss ratio of remarkably less than one in ten thousand. This loss rate is comparable to modern telecommunications technology, indicating great potential for this technology in practical applications.

Research and Development

The designer of this fascinating trampoline, Prof. Dr. Oded Zilberberg, has also considered the possibility of developing a human-sized model. This research is supported by several institutions, including the European Research Council and the German Research Foundation. The results were recently published in the journal Nature, underlining the relevance and level of innovation of this work.

These developments come in a context that emphasizes the relevance of phononic structures and their application in modern technologies. For example, in experiments by Jiade Li and his colleagues at the Chinese Institute of Physics, the phononic spectrum of graphene was recorded in high detail. These studies show that phonons in crystals can act according to a band structure with topological features. Graphene has already detected topological electrons, and the new findings suggest that topological phonons also exist. How aps.org reported, this is crucial for the understanding and development of phononic devices.

Topological phonons and their applications

Topological materials are characterized by their special properties, such as dissipation-free surface currents, which are less sensitive to impurities and defects. This opened the possibility of developing phononic devices such as phonon diodes. Future research will focus on detecting topological phononic edge states, which is important for technological implementation.

In addition to the innovative designs in phonon research, further knowledge about phonons as they occur in crystals preserving mirror or inversion symmetry is important. In this context, researchers have demonstrated in recent studies that Weyl phonons exist in non-centrosymmetric structures. Weyl phonons are described by the Chern number and allow classification based on (screw) rotational symmetries. Loud nature.com These topological phonons were experimentally detected by inelastic X-ray scattering.

In summary, the combination of the developments in trampoline technology and research on topological phonons opens promising perspectives for future technologies. The combination of theoretical models and experimental findings is expected to usher in a new era in the physics of solid-state materials.