What is it about?
We corral dispersive water waves through a tight channel using a periodic array of aluminium tubes. Despite our crystalline medium containing gaps, we manage to create a highly efficient waveguide by leveraging abstract mathematical concepts that range from group theory (the study of symmetries and patterns) to topological phases of matter (Nobel Prize winning area).
Featured Image
Photo by Humphrey Muleba on Unsplash
Why is it important?
A fundamental understanding of the manipulation and channelling of wave energy underpins advances in all of wave physics. Many of the crystals used to control energy have been designed in the honeycomb geometry, similar to the structure of graphene (recipient of 2010 Nobel Prize) and solely for non-dispersive waves. Here we depart from the mainstream and demonstrate how you can efficiently guide highly-dispersive waves using a square crystalline array. These results offer up a tangible route to water wave energy harvesting.
Perspectives
The broadband nature of the effect and the nie-on identical results between the simulations and experiments, for this ordinarily complex system, is significant.
Mehul Makwana
Imperial College London
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Experimental observations of topologically guided water waves within non-hexagonal structures, Applied Physics Letters, March 2020, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/1.5141850.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Guiding surface water waves using topological crystals
Press release by the French National Centre for Scientific Research.
Square-shaped structures can topologically guide water waves
Press release by the American Institute of Physics.
Guiding surface water waves using topological crystals
Press release by the FEMTO-ST Institute
Contributors
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