Deymier Talks Topological Acoustics with Arizona PBS

MSE professor Pierre Deymier will serve as the principal investigator on a National Science Foundation grant establishing the New Frontiers of Sound Science and Technology Center at the University of Arizona. Deymier recently appeared on Arizona PBS to discuss the new center and the special kind of sound waves that inspired it. 

"We're essentially talking about topological acoustics, which is an emerging field of acoustics," Deymier said in an interview with Arizona PBS. "For the past 10 years, people have realized sound waves can have extraordinary properties. And what this Center is about is to exploit those extraordinary properties to benefit society in terms of technologies like fast computing, better cell phone technologies, and better acoustic sensing of the environment."

Deymier explained the field is analogous to quantum studies, in that the researchers map how sounds enter and interact with a space. But the sound waves' behavior can change depending on where it is in the room, and can even behave differently if it's projected from the same point in the room at two different times.

"Topological acoustics exploits attributes of sound waves that have remained hidden so far," Deymier said. "It harnesses the full power of acoustic waves. That suddenly enables extraordinary properties of sound – such as sound waves that mimic quantum waves or that can hit a hard surface without generating an echo – that can affect a huge number of technologies."