Twisting Sound: Scientists Pioneer New Way to Control Mechanical Vibrations Using Metamaterials

Twisting metasurfaces to control sound

In a groundbreaking advance at the intersection of physics, materials science, and engineering, researchers from the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at the CUNY Graduate Center have discovered a new way to control sound and mechanical vibrations by simply twisting two engineered surfaces relative to each other. Their method, called “twistelastics”, draws inspiration from the field of twistronics—originally developed for manipulating electronic properties in layered materials like graphene—and applies it to mechanical waves.

Published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), this work opens entirely new possibilities for reconfigurable control of acoustic and vibrational signals with unprecedented precision. Applications range from advanced medical imaging and consumer electronics to next-generation sensors and signal processing devices.

From Twistronics to Twistelastics

Twistronics refers to the study of how the properties of layered materials change when their layers are rotated relative to one another—famously leading to superconductivity in “magic angle” twisted bilayer graphene. The CUNY ASRC team, led by physicist Andrea Alù, has extended this principle to mechanical waves by stacking and rotating engineered metasurfaces patterned with microscopic pillars. These pillars act like tiny resonators, shaping how vibrations propagate through the structure.

When two identical metasurfaces are twisted at specific angles, they produce topological transitions that alter how sound and vibrations travel. At a critical “magic angle,” the wave patterns become highly focused and guided, allowing engineers to precisely direct energy flow in ways that were previously not possible with conventional fixed structures. This enables tunable waveguides that can be reconfigured on demand without fabricating entirely new devices.

A New Frontier in Acoustic Metamaterials

Acoustic metamaterials—artificially structured materials designed to control sound—have already revolutionized applications like noise cancellation, cloaking, and subwavelength imaging. However, most designs are static, meaning their properties are fixed after fabrication. Twistelastics introduces a simple mechanical degree of freedom—rotation—that gives these systems a powerful tunability across broad frequency ranges.

Using 3D-printed prototypes, simulations, and analytical models, the team demonstrated that twisting metasurfaces can create broadband topological transitions, dynamically adjusting how signals propagate. This flexibility allows devices to be fine-tuned for robust signal transmission, reduced sensitivity to fabrication errors, and on-the-fly reconfiguration for different tasks—all without replacing or redesigning the material.

Technological Implications

The implications of this discovery extend across several fields. In medical imaging, twistelastics could enable ultrasound systems with better resolution and adaptability. In consumer electronics, it could lead to tunable acoustic filters and haptic interfaces. In microfluidics, it may provide new ways to manipulate mechanical waves at the chip scale, improving lab-on-a-chip devices. Perhaps most excitingly, twistelastics could be miniaturized for integration into microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), revolutionizing how sound and vibrations are managed in compact technologies.

Source: Phys.org — “Twisting sound: Scientists discover a new way to control mechanical vibrations in metamaterial” (October 13, 2025). Original study published in PNAS. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2427049122.

This article was prepared with the help of AI technologies.

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#Metamaterials #Twistelastics #Twistronics #MechanicalWaves #AcousticMetamaterials #PNAS #MaterialsScience #WaveControl #SoundEngineering #SignalProcessing #MedicalImaging #MEMS #QuantumServerNetworks #Innovation

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