Frontal waves and transmissions for temporal laminates and imperfect chiral interfaces

The analysis of wave patterns in a structure which possesses periodicity in the spatial and temporal dimensions is presented. The topic of imperfect chiral interfaces is also considered. Although causality is fundamental for physical processes, natural wave phenomena can be observed when a wave is split at a temporal interface. A wave split at a spatial interface is a more common occurrence; however, when the coefficients of the governing equations are time-dependent, the temporal interface becomes important. Here, the associated frontal waves are studied, and regimes are analysed where the growth of the solution in time is found. Imperfect interfaces, across which the displacements are discontinuous, are also considered in the vector case of chiral elastic systems. Analytical study and asymptotic approximations are supplied with illustrative numerical examples. This article is part of the theme issue 'Wave generation and transmission in multi-scale complex media and structured metamaterials (part 1)'.