Spatio-temporally modulated composite metamaterials by using switchable mesostructural topology

Spatio-temporally modulated composite metamaterials (STMCMs) possess tunable and nearly "full-banded" asymmetrical elastic wave properties, making them highly promising for uses in a wide range of applications, such as cloaking, acoustic information processing, ideal vibration isolation, ultrasonic technology. Despite much progress made in the structural design and fabrication of intelligent materials, the realization of STMCMs for practical fabrication is still an open issue because of a series of challenges existing in the rational design of the spatial and temporal ordered structures. In this work, we propose an implementation scheme for a laminated STMCM and computationally predict its performance. The elementary structure of the laminated STMCM is constructed by a functional component named as "acoustic switch" that endows the material with spatio-temporally modulated mesostructural topology and properties. This work not only provides a practical implementation scheme for experimental realization of the STMCMs, but also improves the understanding of STMCMs.