Orbital topological edge states and phase transitions in one-dimensional acoustic resonator chains

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 8162
• Main Authors: Gao, Feng, Xiang, Xiao, Peng, Yu-Gui, Ni, Xiang, Sun, Qi-Li, Yves, Simon, Zhu, Xue-Feng, Alù, Andrea
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 09.12.2023; Nature Publishing Group UK; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Acoustics; Crystal defects; Phase transitions; Phases; Topology; Wave propagation
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44042-z

Topological phases of matter have attracted significant attention in recent years, due to the unusual robustness of their response to defects and disorder. Various research efforts have been exploring classical and quantum topological wave phenomena in engineered materials, in which different degrees of freedom (DoFs) - for the most part based on broken crystal symmetries associated with pseudo-spins - induce synthetic gauge fields that support topological phases and unveil distinct forms of wave propagation. However, spin is not the only viable option to induce topological effects. Intrinsic orbital DoFs in spinless systems may offer a powerful alternative platform, mostly unexplored to date. Here we reveal orbital-selective wave-matter interactions in acoustic systems supporting multiple orbital DoFs, and report the experimental demonstration of disorder-immune orbital-induced topological edge states in a zigzag acoustic 1D spinless lattice. This work expands the study of topological phases based on orbitals, paving the way to explore other orbital-dependent phenomena in spinless systems.