Investigation of wave propagation phenomena in microfabricated arrays of nonlinearly coupled oscillators

We demonstrate a MEMS platform for the investigation of energy propagation behavior in an array of nonlinearly coupled oscillators. The long-term objective is to experimentally demonstrate behaviors that have, until recently, only been theorized to occur in oscillator networks, such as passively reconfiguring bandgaps, energy localization, and chimera states. An improved fundamental understanding and of these phenomena could offer new capabilities for the prevention of catastrophic failures from shock loads, passive amplitude and frequency filters, and energy conversion systems. Here, we detail the design and fabrication of a coupled oscillator testbed, and then demonstrate transverse wave propagation along 1-D magnetically coupled oscillator arrays. Ongoing experiments seek to realize more complicated energy transfer behavior via design variations on this testbed.