Convective Thermal Metamaterials: Exploring High-Efficiency, Directional, and Wave-Like Heat Transfer

Higher-Order Topological In-Bulk Corner State in Pure Diffusion Systems

Compared with conventional topological insulator that carries topological state at its boundaries, the higher-order topological insulator exhibits lower-dimensional gapless boundary states at its corners and hinges. Leveraging the form similarity between Schrödinger equation and diffusion equation, research on higher-order topological insulators has been extended from condensed matter physics to thermal diffusion. Unfortunately, all the corner states of thermal higher-order topological insulator reside within the band gap. Another kind of corner state, which is embedded in the bulk states, has not been realized in pure diffusion systems so far. Here, we construct higher-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger models based on sphere-rod structure to elucidate these corner states, which we term "in-bulk corner states." Because of the anti-Hermitian properties of diffusive Hamiltonian, we investigate the thermal behavior of these corner states through theoretical calculation, simulation, and experiment. Furthermore, we study the different thermal behaviors of in-bulk corner state and in-gap corner state. Our results would open a different gate for diffusive topological states and provide a distinct application for efficient heat dissipation.

Observation of parity-time symmetry in diffusive systems

Phase modulation has scarcely been mentioned in diffusive physical systems because the diffusion process does not carry the momentum like waves. Recently, non-Hermitian physics provides a unique perspective for understanding diffusion and shows prospects in thermal phase regulation, exemplified by the discovery of anti-parity-time (APT) symmetry in diffusive systems. However, precise control of thermal phase remains elusive hitherto and can hardly be realized, due to the phase oscillations. Here we construct the PT-symmetric diffusive systems to achieve the complete suppression of thermal phase oscillation. The real coupling of diffusive fields is readily established through a strong convective background, and the decay-rate detuning is enabled by thermal metamaterial design. We observe the phase transition of PT symmetry breaking with the symmetry-determined amplitude and phase regulation of coupled temperature fields. Our work shows the existence of PT symmetry in dissipative energy exchanges and provides unique approaches for harnessing the mass transfer of particles, wave dynamics in strongly scattering systems, and thermal conduction.

Reprogrammable Metamaterial Processors for Soft Machines

Soft metamaterials have attracted extensive attention due to their remarkable properties. These materials hold the potential to program and control the morphing behavior of soft machines, however, their combination is limited by the poor reprogrammability of metamaterials and incompatible communication between them. Here, printable and recyclable soft metamaterials possessing reprogrammable embedded intelligence to regulate the morphing of soft machines are introduced. These metamaterials are constructed from interconnected and periodically arranged logic unit cells that are able to perform compound logic operations coupling multiplication and negation. The scalable computation capacity of the unit cell empowers it to simultaneously process multiple fluidic signals with different types and magnitudes, thereby allowing the execution of sophisticated and high-level control operations. By establishing the laws of physical Boolean algebra and formulating a universal design route, soft metamaterials capable of diverse logic operations can be readily created and reprogrammed. Besides, the metamaterials' potential of directly serving as fluidic processors for soft machines is validated by constructing a soft latched demultiplexer, soft controllers capable of universal and customizable morphing programming, and a reprogrammable processor without reconnection. This work provides a facile way to create reprogrammable soft fluidic control systems to meet on-demand requirements in dynamic situations.

Deep Learning-Assisted Active Metamaterials with Heat-Enhanced Thermal Transport

Heat management is crucial for state-of-the-art applications such as passive radiative cooling, thermally adjustable wearables, and camouflage systems. Their adaptive versions, to cater to varied requirements, lean on the potential of adaptive metamaterials. Existing efforts, however, feature with highly anisotropic parameters, narrow working-temperature ranges, and the need for manual intervention, which remain long-term and tricky obstacles for the most advanced self-adaptive metamaterials. To surmount these barriers, heat-enhanced thermal diffusion metamaterials powered by deep learning is introduced. Such active metamaterials can automatically sense ambient temperatures and swiftly, as well as continuously, adjust their thermal functions with a high degree of tunability. They maintain robust thermal performance even when external thermal fields change direction, and both simulations and experiments demonstrate exceptional results. Furthermore, two metadevices with on-demand adaptability, performing distinctive features with isotropic materials, wide working temperatures, and spontaneous response are designed. This work offers a framework for the design of intelligent thermal diffusion metamaterials and can be expanded to other diffusion fields, adapting to increasingly complex and dynamic environments.

Nonreciprocal Heat Circulation Metadevices

Thermal nonreciprocity typically stems from nonlinearity or spatiotemporal variation of parameters. However, constrained by the inherent temperature-dependent properties and the law of mass conservation, previous works have been compelled to treat dynamic and steady-state cases separately. Here, by establishing a unified thermal scattering theory, the creation of a convection-based thermal metadevice which supports both dynamic and steady-state nonreciprocal heat circulation is reported. The nontrivial dependence between the nonreciprocal resonance peaks and the dynamic parameters is observed and the unique nonreciprocal mechanism of multiple scattering is revealed at steady state. This mechanism enables thermal nonreciprocity in the initially quasi-symmetric scattering matrix of the three-port metadevice and has been experimentally validated with a significant isolation ratio of heat fluxes. The findings establish a framework for thermal nonreciprocity that can be smoothly modulated for dynamic and steady-state heat signals, it may also offer insight into other heat-transfer-related problems or even other fields such as acoustics and mechanics.

Non-Hermitian Chiral Heat Transport

Exceptional point (EP) has been captivated as a concept of interpreting eigenvalue degeneracy and eigenstate exchange in non-Hermitian physics. The chirality in the vicinity of EP is intrinsically preserved and usually immune to external bias or perturbation, resulting in the robustness of asymmetric backscattering and directional emission in classical wave fields. Despite recent progress in non-Hermitian thermal diffusion, all state-of-the-art approaches fail to exhibit chiral states or directional robustness in heat transport. Here we report the first discovery of chiral heat transport, which is manifested only in the vicinity of EP but suppressed at the EP of a thermal system. The chiral heat transport demonstrates significant robustness against drastically varying advections and thermal perturbations imposed. Our results reveal the chirality in heat transport process and provide a novel strategy for manipulating mass, charge, and diffusive light.