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Published on: May 8, 2021
Electronic and mechanical realizations of one-way coupling in one and two dimensions
Barbara J Breen1, Aaron B Doud, Jamie R Grimm
1Physics Department, The University of Portland, Portland, Oregon 97203, USA.
Abstract:
One-way or unidirectional coupling is a striking example of how topological considerations--the parity of an array of multistable elements combined with periodic boundary conditions--can qualitatively influence dynamics. Here we introduce a simple electronic model of one-way coupling in one and two dimensions and experimentally compare it to an improved mechanical model and an ideal mathematical model. In two dimensions, computation and experiment reveal richer one-way coupling phenomenology: in media where two-way coupling would dissipate all excitations, one-way coupling enables solitonlike waves to propagate in different directions with different speeds.
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