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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 6, 2025

Using Microwave and Macroscopic Samples of Dielectric Solids to Study the Photonic Properties of Disordered Photonic Bandgap Materials

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Anomalous topological waves in strongly amorphous scattering networks.

Zhe Zhang¹, Pierre Delplace², Romain Fleury¹

¹École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Laboratory of Wave Engineering, Station 11, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.

Science Advances

|March 22, 2023

Summary

We discovered a new type of topological material that maintains its unique wave-controlling properties even with extreme disorder. This breakthrough enables robust unidirectional transport in amorphous systems.

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Area of Science:

Condensed matter physics
Topological materials science
Wave transport phenomena

Background:

Topological insulators offer robust unidirectional wave transport, immune to defects.
However, conventional topological insulators lose functionality with significant disorder, entering an Anderson insulating phase.
A need exists for topological systems that withstand high levels of amorphism.

Purpose of the Study:

To demonstrate a two-dimensional amorphous topological regime.
To investigate its resilience against arbitrarily strong amorphism.
To explore applications in controlling wave transport in disordered systems.

Main Methods:

Implementation of a nonreciprocal scattering network for electromagnetic waves.
Experimental demonstration of unidirectional edge transport.
Topological invariant measurements to confirm the origin of edge states.

Main Results:

A novel amorphous topological regime was successfully demonstrated.
Unidirectional edge transport was observed even in the strong amorphous limit.
An anomalous edge state was identified as the mediator of this transport.

Conclusions:

Strong amorphism can induce, enhance, and guarantee topological edge transport.
This extends the applicability of topological physics to amorphous systems.
The findings pave the way for robust wave control in disordered environments.