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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Fabrication and Testing of Microfluidic Optomechanical Oscillators
Published on: May 29, 2014
Experimental observation of soliton propagation and annihilation in a hydromechanical array of one-way coupled
John F Lindner1, Kelly M Patton, Patrick M Odenthal
1Physics Department, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio 44691, USA.
Abstract:
We have experimentally realized unidirectional or one-way coupling in a mechanical array by powering the coupling with flowing water. In cyclic arrays with an even number of elements, solitonlike waves spontaneously form but eventually annihilate in pairs, leaving a spatially alternating static attractor. In cyclic arrays with an odd number of elements, this alternating attractor is topologically impossible, and a single soliton always remains to propagate indefinitely. Our experiments with 14- and 15-element arrays highlight the dynamical importance of both noise and disorder and are further elucidated by our computer simulations.
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