Edge Mode Amplification in Disordered Elastic Networks

We study theoretically and numerically the propagation of a displacement field imposed at the edge of a disordered elastic material. While some modes decay with some inverse penetration depth $\kappa$, other exponentially {\it amplify} with rate $\mathrm{\mid }\kappa \mathrm{\mid }$, where $\kappa$’s are Lyapounov exponents analogous to those governing electronic transport in a disordered conductors. We obtain an analytical approximation for the full distribution $g(\kappa )$, which decays exponentially for large $\mathrm{\mid }\kappa \mathrm{\mid }$ and is finite when $\kappa \to 0$. Our analysis shows that isostatic materials generically act as levers with possibly very large gains, suggesting a novel principle to design molecular machines that behave as elastic amplifiers.