Light-powered Self-excited Coupled Oscillators in Huygens ’ Synchrony

Abstract

\n Self-excited motions have the advantages of actively collecting energy from the environment, autonomy, making equipment portable and so on, and a great number of self-excited motion modes have recently been developed which greatly expand the application in active machines. However, there are few studies on the synchronization and group behaviors of self-excited coupled oscillators, which are common in nature. Based on light-powered self-excited oscillator composed of liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) bars, the synchronization of two self-excited coupled oscillators is theoretically studied. Numerical calculations show that self-excited oscillations of the system have two synchronization modes: in-phase mode and anti-phase mode. The time histories of various quantities are calculated to elucidate the mechanism of self-excited oscillation and synchronization. Furthermore, the effects of initial conditions and interaction on the two synchronization modes of the self-excited oscillation are investigated extensively. For strong interactions, the system always develops into in-phase synchronization mode, while for weak interaction, the system will evolve into anti-phase synchronization mode. Meanwhile, the initial condition generally does not affect the synchronization mode and its amplitude. This work will deepen people s understanding of synchronization behaviors of self-excited coupled oscillators, and provide promising applications in energy harvesting, signal monitoring, soft robotics and medical equipment.