Quantum Topological Boundary States in Quasi-Crystals

Topological phases play a novel and fundamental role in matter and display extraordinary robustness to smooth changes in material parameters or disorder. A crossover between topological material and quantum information may lead to inherent fault-tolerant quantum simulations and quantum computing. Quantum features may be preserved by being encoded among topological structures of physical evolution systems. This requires stimulation, manipulation, and observation of topological phenomena at the single quantum particle level, which has not, however, yet been realized. It is asked whether the quantum features of single photons can be preserved in topological structures. The boundary states are experimentally observed at the genuine single-photon level and the performance of the topological phase is demonstrated to protect the quantum features against diffusion-induced decoherence in coupled waveguides and noise decoherence from the ambient environment. Compatibility between macroscopic topological states and microscopic single photons in the ambient environment is thus confirmed, leading to a new avenue to "quantum topological photonics" and providing more new possibilities for quantum materials and quantum technologies.