Exploration of Dynamically Reconfigurable Topological Insulators for Enabling Next-Generation Acoustic-Based Logic and Signal Processing

探索动态可重构拓扑绝缘体以实现下一代基于声学的逻辑和信号处理

基本信息

批准号：
1929849
负责人：
Michael Leamy
金额：
$ 42.87万
依托单位：
Georgia Tech Research Corporation
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-08-15 至 2023-07-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1929849&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Exploration Dynamically Reconfigurable Topological Insulators

项目摘要

This project will contribute to the progress of science and advance the national health, security and prosperity, by producing new knowledge on dynamically reconfigurable topological insulators. The topological insulators are materials with unique properties that allow signals to travel through their edges, but not the surface. Outcomes of this project will contribute to the advancement of reconfigurable topological insulators technologies. These technologies have a number of applications in communication devices, sensors and robotics, including cellular phones, touch screens, and microfluidic devices. Educational outreach is planned to underrepresented high school students and their teachers through the Georgia Intern Fellowships for Teachers (GIFT) program, while recruitment of new graduate students will include reaching out to several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) local to Atlanta. Findings from the research, together with educational outreach, will inform the scientific community and a large and diverse cohort of students about new discoveries in the physics of waves and electromechanical systems, which is expected to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.Topological insulators represent a new class of materials in which the bulk material behaves as an insulator (i.e., prevents wave propagation), while the periphery allows such propagation (e.g., edge propagation or interface propagation). Furthermore, due to topological protection, these edge modes are protected from backscattering, and are therefore intrinsically protected from the presence of defects and imperfections. This research will demonstrate the first reconfigurable, mechanical topological insulators through the use of theoretical, computational, and experimental techniques. Concepts to be explored include mechanical means of reconfigurability using solenoids and piezoelectric actuation. Both means will break inversion symmetry, resulting in a separation of the material's Dirac structure, yielding non-trivial Chern numbers (an integer measure of topology) and thus topological insulators. This is anticipated to open pathways to new classes of commercially viable waveguides, filters, and logic devices immune to back-scattering from defects and anomalies. Much like ubiquitous surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices, these new devices are expected to have advantages over their electromagnetic counterparts in terms of size and cost, and are expected to be more efficient (e.g., consume less battery power) than software solutions such as digital signal processing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目将通过产生有关动态可重构拓扑绝缘体的新知识，为科学进步做出贡献，促进国家健康、安全和繁荣。拓扑绝缘体是具有独特特性的材料，允许信号穿过其边缘，但不能穿过表面。该项目的成果将有助于可重构拓扑绝缘体技术的进步。这些技术在通信设备、传感器和机器人领域有许多应用，包括手机、触摸屏和微流体设备。计划通过佐治亚州实习教师奖学金（GIFT）计划向代表性不足的高中生及其教师进行教育推广，而新研究生的招募将包括接触亚特兰大当地的几所历史悠久的黑人学院和大学（HBCU）。研究结果与教育推广一起，将向科学界和众多不同的学生介绍波和机电系统物理学的新发现，预计这将激励下一代科学家和工程师。拓扑绝缘体代表一类新材料，其中块体材料表现为绝缘体（即阻止波传播），而外围允许这种传播（例如边缘传播或界面传播）。此外，由于拓扑保护，这些边缘模式免受反向散射，因此本质上免受缺陷和缺陷的影响。这项研究将通过使用理论、计算和实验技术展示第一个可重构的机械拓扑绝缘体。待探索的概念包括使用螺线管和压电驱动进行可重构的机械方式。这两种方法都会打破反演对称性，导致材料的狄拉克结构分离，产生非平凡的陈数（拓扑的整数度量），从而产生拓扑绝缘体。预计这将为新型商业上可行的波导、滤波器和逻辑器件开辟道路，不受缺陷和异常的反向散射影响。与无处不在的表面声波 (SAW) 设备非常相似，这些新设备预计在尺寸和成本方面比电磁同类设备具有优势，并且比软件解决方案（例如，消耗更少的电池电量）更高效（例如，消耗更少的电池电量）。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。