“We developed a novel technique to differentially map phonon momenta with atomic resolution, which enables us to observe nonequilibrium phonons that only exist near the interface,” stated co-author Xiaoqing Pan, UCI professor of materials science and engineering and physics, Henry Samueli Endowed Chair in Engineering, and IMRI director.

In a new study recently published in the Advanced Materials journal, engineers from the University of California, Irvine and the Georgia Institute of Technology have explained the development of a new range of mechanical metamaterials that prevent failure by delocalizing the deformations.