Abstract
Granular materials exhibit a strongly nonlinear behavior affecting the propagation of energy and information. Dynamically self-organized strongly nonlinear solitary waves are the main information carriers in granular chains. We report the first experimental observation of the dramatic change of solitary wave reflectivity from the interface of two granular media triggered by a magnetically induced precompression. It may be appropriate to name this phenomenon the “acoustic diode” effect. We explain this effect by the high gradient of particle velocity near the interface.
- Received 15 June 2005
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.158702
©2005 American Physical Society