Observations of symmetry induced topological mode steering in a reconfigurable elastic plate

Abstract

We experimentally investigate the valley-Hall effect for interfacial edge states, highlighting the importance of the modal patterns, between geometrically distinct regions within a structured elastic plate. These experiments, for vibration, are at a scale where detailed measurements are taken throughout the system and not just at the input/output ports; this exposes the coupling between geometrically distinct modes that underlie the differences between wave transport around gentle and sharp bends.