Transients and multiperiodic responses: a hierarchy of material bits

Abstract

When cyclically driven, certain disordered materials exhibit transient and multiperiodic responses that are difficult to reproduce in synthetic materials. Here, we show that elementary multiperiodic elements with period T=2, togglerons, can serve as building blocks for such responses. We experimentally realize metamaterials composed of togglerons with tunable transients and periodic responses - including odd periods. Our approach suggests a hierarchy of increasingly complex elements in frustrated media, and opens a new strategy for rational design of sequential metamaterials.