Valley Hall In-Plane Edge States as Building Blocks for Elastodynamic Logic Circuits

Although waveguiding is vital in mechanical signal processing and energy harvesting, conventional techniques are prone to significant backscattering from corners or junctions. Inspired by the quantum Valley Hall effect, we create and study topologically protected in-plane waveguides that are immune to backscattering. In addition, the waveguides are exploited to realize multi-interface junctions that act as logic ports with unconventional wave-manipulation capabilities, including asymmetric transport, energy trapping and rerouting, and mechanical signal delaying. These ports can ultimately serve as the building blocks for a practically endless array of elastodynamic circuits.