Nonreciprocal buckling makes active filaments polyfunctional
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arXiv
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866914403665838080 |
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| author | Al-Izzi, Sami C. Du, Yao Veenstra, Jonas Morris, Richard G. Souslov, Anton Carlson, Andreas Coulais, Corentin Binysh, Jack |
| author_facet | Al-Izzi, Sami C. Du, Yao Veenstra, Jonas Morris, Richard G. Souslov, Anton Carlson, Andreas Coulais, Corentin Binysh, Jack |
| contents | Active filaments are a workhorse for propulsion and actuation across biology, soft robotics and mechanical metamaterials. However, artificial active rods suffer from limited robustness and adaptivity because they rely on external control, or are tethered to a substrate. Here we bypass these constraints by demonstrating that non-reciprocal interactions lead to large-scale unidirectional dynamics in free-standing slender structures. By coupling the bending modes of a buckled beam anti-symmetrically, we transform the multistable dynamics of elastic snap-through into persistent cycles of shape change. In contrast to the critical point underpinning beam buckling, this transition to self-snapping is mediated by a critical exceptional point, at which bending modes simultaneously become unstable and degenerate. Upon environmental perturbation, our active filaments exploit self-snapping for a range of functionality including crawling, digging and walking. Our work advances critical exceptional physics as a guiding principle for programming instabilities into functional active materials. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_14725 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Nonreciprocal buckling makes active filaments polyfunctional Al-Izzi, Sami C. Du, Yao Veenstra, Jonas Morris, Richard G. Souslov, Anton Carlson, Andreas Coulais, Corentin Binysh, Jack Soft Condensed Matter Statistical Mechanics Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems Pattern Formation and Solitons Active filaments are a workhorse for propulsion and actuation across biology, soft robotics and mechanical metamaterials. However, artificial active rods suffer from limited robustness and adaptivity because they rely on external control, or are tethered to a substrate. Here we bypass these constraints by demonstrating that non-reciprocal interactions lead to large-scale unidirectional dynamics in free-standing slender structures. By coupling the bending modes of a buckled beam anti-symmetrically, we transform the multistable dynamics of elastic snap-through into persistent cycles of shape change. In contrast to the critical point underpinning beam buckling, this transition to self-snapping is mediated by a critical exceptional point, at which bending modes simultaneously become unstable and degenerate. Upon environmental perturbation, our active filaments exploit self-snapping for a range of functionality including crawling, digging and walking. Our work advances critical exceptional physics as a guiding principle for programming instabilities into functional active materials. |
| title | Nonreciprocal buckling makes active filaments polyfunctional |
| topic | Soft Condensed Matter Statistical Mechanics Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems Pattern Formation and Solitons |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.14725 |