Authors
Peiheng Zhou*, Gui-Geng Liu*, Xin Ren, Yihao Yang#, Haoran Xue, Lei Bi, Longjiang Deng, Yidong Chong#, Baile Zhang#
Publication date
2020/7/24
Journal
Light: Science & Applications
Volume
9
Issue
1
Pages
1-8
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Description
The current understanding of topological insulators and their classical wave analogs, such as photonic topological insulators, is mainly based on topological band theory. However, standard band theory does not apply to amorphous phases of matter, which are formed by non-crystalline lattices with no long-range positional order but only short-range order, exhibiting unique phenomena such as the glass-to-liquid transition. Here, we experimentally investigate amorphous variants of a Chern number-based photonic topological insulator. By tuning the disorder strength in the lattice, we demonstrate that photonic topological edge states can persist into the amorphous regime prior to the glass-to-liquid transition. After the transition to a liquid-like lattice configuration, the signatures of topological edge states disappear. This interplay between topology and short-range order in amorphous lattices paves the way for new …
Total citations
20202021202220232024513193014
Scholar articles
P Zhou, GG Liu, X Ren, Y Yang, H Xue, L Bi, L Deng… - Light: Science & Applications, 2020
P Zhou, GG Liu, X Ren, Y Yang, H Xue, L Bi, L Deng… - arXiv preprint arXiv:2001.03819, 2020