Two dimensional triangular lattice of buckled Beams
Dispersion relation for different levels of static biaxial strain applied to lattice
We are exploring lasers for generation and detection of elastic waves in thin films, membranes, and nano- and micro-structured materials. These materials have wide applications in electronic devices, surface acoustic wave sensors, and micro- and nano-electromechanical systems. In particular, we are interested in studying the propagation of elastic waves in periodic structures such as phononic crystals and metamaterials. These artificial composite materials exhibit dynamic properties like frequency bandgaps, negative refraction, topologically protected wave guiding, etc., which are not achieved in conventional materials. Our interest in this research area is to understand how geometrical complexity, mechanics, and anisotropy can be tailored using nanoscale unit cell building blocks to realize reconfigurable phononic structures that operate at frequencies in the hundreds of MHz to GHz range. This work is relevant to phonon-assisted heat management in electronic devices, phononic information processing devices, and surface acoustic wave devices.