Experimental demonstration of Snell's law for shear zone refraction in granular materials

We present experiments on slow shear flow in granular materials. Under appropriate conditions shear localizes in narrow shear zones. We demonstrate that when the shear zone crosses a material boundary, it refracts in accordance with Snell's law in optics-an effect first found in simulations [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 018301 (2007)]. The shear zone is the one that minimizes the dissipation rate upon shearing, i.e., a manifestation of the principle of least dissipation. We have prepared the materials as to form a granular lens. Shearing through the lens is shown to give a very broad shear zone, which corresponds to fulfilling Snell's law for a continuous range of paths through the cell.