Multistable internal resonance in electroelastic crystals with nonlinearly coupled modes

Nonlinear modal interactions have recently become the focus of intense research in micro- and nanoscale resonators for their use to improve oscillator performance and probe the frontiers of fundamental physics. However, our understanding of modal coupling is largely restricted to clamped-clamped beams, and lacking in systems with both geometric and material nonlinearities. Here we report multistable energy transfer between internally resonant modes of an electroelastic crystal plate and use a mixed analytical-numerical approach to provide new insight into these complex interactions. Our results reveal a rich bifurcation structure marked by nested regions of multistability. Even the simple case of two coupled modes generates a host of topologically distinct dynamics over the parameter space, ranging from the usual Duffing bistability to complex multistable behaviour and quasiperiodic motion.