Elastic Energy Transport Leveraging Tunable Topological Structures

The exploitation of non-trivial topological properties of band structures in Phononic Crystals has recently proved to be a proficient way to obtain robust waveguides showing immunity to backscattering at defects and capability to overcome sharp bends without reflections. This manuscript shows how it is possible to design an elastic waveguide that exploits the promising features of topological protection and at the same time achieves reconfigurability in the path followed by the carried signal. This is accomplished by integration in the structure of piezoelectic smart devices with negative capacitance shunting circuits. Moreover, the design of a mechanism to switch between different edge channels to convey at need elastic energy to distinct points of the structure is presented.