Exotic states in a simple network of nanoelectromechanical oscillators

Matthew H Matheny; Jeffrey Emenheiser; Warren Fon; Airlie Chapman; Anastasiya Salova; Martin Rohden; Jarvis Li; Mathias Hudoba de Badyn; Márton Pósfai; Leonardo Duenas-Osorio; Mehran Mesbahi; James P Crutchfield; M C Cross; Raissa M D'Souza; Michael L Roukes

doi:10.1126/science.aav7932

Exotic states in a simple network of nanoelectromechanical oscillators

Science. 2019 Mar 8;363(6431):eaav7932. doi: 10.1126/science.aav7932.

Authors

Matthew H Matheny^{1

2}, Jeffrey Emenheiser^{3

4}, Warren Fon^{1

2}, Airlie Chapman⁵, Anastasiya Salova^{3

4}, Martin Rohden^{4

6}, Jarvis Li^{2

7}, Mathias Hudoba de Badyn⁸, Márton Pósfai^{4

6}, Leonardo Duenas-Osorio⁹, Mehran Mesbahi⁸, James P Crutchfield^{3

4

10}, M C Cross¹, Raissa M D'Souza^{4

6

10

11}, Michael L Roukes^{12

2

7

13}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
² Kavli Nanoscience Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
³ Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
⁴ Complexity Sciences Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
⁵ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
⁶ Department of Computer Science, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
⁷ Department of Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
⁸ William E. Boeing Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
⁹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, USA.
¹⁰ Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA.
¹¹ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
¹² Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. roukes@caltech.edu.
¹³ Department of Bioengineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

PMID: 30846570
DOI: 10.1126/science.aav7932

Abstract

Synchronization of oscillators, a phenomenon found in a wide variety of natural and engineered systems, is typically understood through a reduction to a first-order phase model with simplified dynamics. Here, by exploiting the precision and flexibility of nanoelectromechanical systems, we examined the dynamics of a ring of quasi-sinusoidal oscillators at and beyond first order. Beyond first order, we found exotic states of synchronization with highly complex dynamics, including weak chimeras, decoupled states, traveling waves, and inhomogeneous synchronized states. Through theory and experiment, we show that these exotic states rely on complex interactions emerging out of networks with simple linear nearest-neighbor coupling. This work provides insight into the dynamical richness of complex systems with weak nonlinearities and local interactions.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.