Complex pathways in multistable matter

Massively multistable materials, such as crumpled sheets, display strikingly
complex sequential responses when driven. These responses arise from
their rugged energy landscapes, which emerge due to disorder and frustration.
This makes the understanding, characterization and design of the
sequential response of multistable materials both a fundamental challenge
and a technological opportunity for sequential shape morphing, soft robotics
and in-materia computing.
In this thesis, we address three interrelated questions at this frontier. First,
we explore how richer modes of driving fundamentally reshape material
behavior. Second, we investigate the minimal building blocks that generate
exotic sequential responses. Third, we develop a scalable driving strategy
that utilizes dynamics to write many states in a single drive cycle to unlock
the full potential of multistable materials.
Together, these contributions advance our understanding of the fundamental
physics of frustrated and multistable systems, and build toward a framework
for their characterization, control and rational design–paving the way
toward programmable and adaptive materials.