Single phonon diode operating on a metagrating surface

S Lu and ZW Zhang and Y Li and P Hänggi and J Chen, PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 112, 075407 (2025).

DOI: 10.1103/3pzr-bwj7

Asymmetric transmissions have a number of significant applications in a variety of fields, including communication and sensing systems. In this study, we present the numerical simulations of a single phonon diode model comprising a metagrating and a superlattice structure. By breaking the spatial inversion symmetry, the unidirectional transmission of a single phonon can be achieved in the proposed setup. This unidirectional phenomenon can be attributed to the occurrence of distinct mode transitions at two sides of the diode. Moreover, we demonstrate that the precise control of energy flow partition passing through the metagrating can be achieved by optimizing the metagrating parameters via machine learning, resulting in a significant contrast between the energy transmission in two directions, up to two orders of magnitude. The physical mechanisms to achieve enhanced rectification efficiency are discussed in detail. This work therefore paves a feasible pathway in designing functional phononic devices based on stylized metagrating structures.

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