CAREER: New Polarizations of Elastic Waves in Architected Materials

这笔学院早期职业发展(Career)补助金将资助能够设计动态系统以维持目标功能的研究，如振动缓解、超声波成像和热声子操纵，从而促进科学进步，促进国家繁荣和福利。该项目将通过一系列新的机械超材料，为与三种新的弹性波偏振相关的知识建立分析、计算和实验基础：非近轴自旋、张量平面波和结模式。这些都是全新的波极化，到目前为止，任何材料都不可能存在，无论是天然的还是人造的。这些下一代超材料预计将产生强大的社会影响，例如在地震中拯救生命、建筑和桥梁，以及通过准确的诊断节省数十亿美元的医疗成本。这一职业项目整合了研究和教育，形成了知识传播的创新战略，展示了波浪力学和超材料领域的社会效益，并激发了美洲原住民学生对从事科学和工程专业学习和职业的兴趣。这项研究旨在开发机械超材料所固有的独特可能性，以实现超越当前科学知识所定义的边界的波现象。这些新的超材料将支持尚未被任何理论预测或在任何实验中观察到的奇异极化。具体目标包括与传播方向不平行的本征自旋角动量，类似于引力波的张量极化弹性平面波，以及由数学结指定的具有广义极化的多频率波的传播。总体目标是在超材料研究中找到新的视野，同时显著扩展我们在波浪操纵方面的工具集。这项研究有可能实现对信息和能量的机械/声学传递的完整和详细的定制。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的学术价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant will fund research that enables the design of dynamic systems to sustain targeted functionalities such as vibration mitigation, ultrasonic imaging, and thermal phononic manipulation, thereby promoting the progress of science, and advancing national prosperity and welfare. The project will build the analytical, computational, and experimental foundations for the knowledge associated with three novel polarizations of elastic waves: non-paraxial spins, tensorial plane waves, and knotted modes via a new family of architected mechanical metamaterials. These are brand-new wave polarizations that so far cannot exist in any materials, natural or man-made. These next-generation metamaterials are expected to have strong societal impacts, such as saving human lives, buildings, and bridges during earthquakes, as well as saving billions of dollars of medical costs via accurate diagnostics. This CAREER project integrates research and education to form innovative strategies for knowledge dissemination that showcase the societal benefits of the field of wave mechanics and metamaterials and spark interest among Native American students to pursue studies and careers in science and engineering.This research aims to exploit the unique possibilities inherent in mechanical metamaterials to realize wave phenomena that transcend the boundaries defined by the current scientific knowledge. These new metamaterials will support exotic polarizations that are not yet predicted by any theory or observed in any experiment. Specific targets include intrinsic spin angular momentum that is not paraxial to the propagation direction, tensorially polarized elastic plane waves that are analogous to the gravitational waves, and propagation of multi-frequency waves with generalized polarizations that are specified by mathematical knots. The overall goal is to find new horizons in metamaterials research while significantly expanding our tool sets in wave manipulation. This research has the potential to enable the complete and detailed tailoring of the mechanical/phononic transfer of information and energy. The expected outcomes will seed and fertilize a new research field of unconventional wave polarizations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.