Related papers: Multi-shape memory by dynamic elastocapillary self…

Capillary suspensions are three-phase mixtures containing a solid particulate phase, a continuous liquid phase, and a second immiscible liquid forming capillary bridges between particles. Capillary suspensions are encountered in a wide…

We consider a photonic lattice of nonlinear lossy resonators subjected to a coherent drive, where the system remembers its topological phase. Initially, the system is topologically trivial. After the application of an additional coherent…

Manipulating the way in which colloidal particles self-organise is a central challenge in the design of functional soft materials. Meeting this challenge requires the use of building blocks that interact with one another in a highly…

Soft machines display shape adaptation to external circumstances due to their intrinsic compliance. To achieve increasingly more responsive behaviors upon interactions without relying on centralized computation, embodying memory directly in…

Engineering synthetic materials that mimic the remarkable complexity of living organisms is a fundamental challenge in science and technology. We study the spatiotemporal patterns that emerge when an active nematicfilm of microtubules and…

A variety of swimming microorganisms, called ciliates, exploit the bending of a large number of small and densely-packed organelles, termed cilia, in order to propel themselves in a viscous fluid. We consider a spherical envelope model for…

The ability of liquid interfaces to shape slender elastic structures provides powerful strategies to control the architecture of mechanical self assemblies. However, elastocapillarity-driven intelligent design remains unexplored in more…

When tiny soft ferromagnetic particles are placed along a liquid interface and exposed to a vertical magnetic field, the balance between capillary attraction and magnetic repulsion leads to self-organization into well-defined patterns.…

The ability to manipulate polar entities with multiple external fields opens exciting possibilities for emerging functionalities and novel applications in spin systems, photonics, metamaterials, and soft matter. Liquid crystals (LCs),…

Hierarchical structures exhibit critical features across multiple scales. However, designing multiscale structures demands significant computational resources, and ensuring connectivity between microstructures remains a key challenge. To…

We investigate the crumpling of a sheet as it is repeatedly crushed onto itself by rolling it into a cylinder and twisting it axially while allowing the end-to-end length to evolve freely. As deduced from its plastic deformations, the sheet…

The inertia of trapping and detrapping of nonequilibrium charge carriers affects the electrochemical and transport properties of both bulk and nanoscopic structures in a very peculiar way. An emerging memory response with a hysteresis in…

Cyclically sheared jammed packings form memories of the shear amplitude at which they were trained by falling into periodic orbits where each particle returns to the identical position in subsequent cycles. While simple models that treat…

Multi-stable mechanical structures find cutting-edge applications across various domains due to their reconfigurability, which offers innovative possibilities for engineering and technology advancements. This study explores the emergence of…

Morphogenesis emerges from dynamic feedback among geometry, mechanics, and chemistry; however, disentangling these contributions in living systems remains challenging. Here, we focus on the interplay between geometry and mechanics by…

Viscous streaming refers to the rectified, steady flows that emerge when a liquid oscillates around an immersed microfeature, typically a solid body or a bubble. The ability of such features to locally concentrate stresses produces strong…

Small objects floating on a fluid have a tendency to aggregate due to capillary forces. This effect has been used, with the help of a magnetic induction field, to assemble submillimeter metallic spheres into a variety of structures, whose…

Liquids composed of self-propelled particles have been experimentally realized using molecular, colloidal, or macroscopic constituents. These active liquids can flow spontaneously even in the absence of an external drive. Unlike spontaneous…

Elastic metamaterials are often designed for a single permanent function. We explore the possibility of altering a material's function repeatedly through a self-organization, "training" process, controlled by applied strains. We show that…

Capillarity-driven self-assembly at fluidic interfaces offers a scalable route to large, reconfigurable materials. Microscale particles with high horizontal-to-vertical aspect ratios become attractive building blocks for shape-directed…