Gyromorphs: A New Class of Functional Disordered Materials

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Photonics

Background:

• Disordered materials often lack predictable properties.
• Controlling order in disordered systems is crucial for advanced applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce a new class of functional correlated disordered materials: gyromorphs.
• Investigate their unique combination of liquid-like translational disorder and quasi-long-range rotational order.
• Explore their potential for creating low-index-contrast isotropic band gaps.

Main Methods:

• Generating 2D and 3D gyromorphs using spectral optimization.
• Analyzing structure factor for rotational and translational order.
• Numerical simulations (coupled dipoles approximation) for band gap formation.
• Analytical effective-medium theory and scattering mean-free path estimations.

Main Results:

• Gyromorphs exhibit strong discrete rotational order without long-range translational order.
• Outperform quasicrystals, stealthy hyperuniformity, and Vogel spirals in forming isotropic band gaps.
• Achieve low-index-contrast band gaps for scalar and vector waves in 2D.
• Open complete isotropic band gaps in 3D.
• Polygyromorphs enable multiple band gaps for fine optical property control.

Conclusions:

• Gyromorphs represent a new paradigm in designing functional disordered materials.
• Their unique structure offers significant advantages for photonic applications, particularly in band gap engineering.
• The development of polygyromorphs allows for unprecedented control over optical properties.