Thermoelastic wave-based logic for mechanically cognitive materials

The work targets mechanical computing by combining wave scattering with mechanical memory, aiming for efficient, low-latency elastoacoustic computation. It introduces multifunctional mechanical computing circuits that use phononic and locally resonant metamaterials. Memory is integrated using metamaterial cells infused with shape memory alloys that recall stored elastic profiles and trigger specific actions when thermally activated. A key claimed advantage is that the circuits interact synergistically with incident vibroacoustic loads and benefit from the high speed of waves, outperforming approaches based on slower mechanisms like elastomeric shape changes or snap-through bistabilities. The authors report a proof-of-concept physical implementation, showing reconfigurability through output probes and measured wavefields, and propose modular gates as building blocks for more complex combinational logic and sequential logic in wave-based analog computing systems.