Reconfigurable topological wave routing based on tunable valley kink states and valley-polarized chiral edge states

Valley kink states and valley-polarized chiral edge states, whose topologically protected one-way propagation property provides a promising solution for manipulating light waves, have recently attracted considerable attention in topological photonics. However, it remains a great challenge to realize flexibly tunable dispersion for two different topological states and to develop a dynamically controllable topological photonic platform for switching topological wave routing. In this work, we propose a reconfigurable topological wave routing structure in the telecommunication frequency range, where phase-change material Sb₂S₃ cylinders with tunable refractive index are embedded into each topological channel to dynamically tune the dispersion of topological edge states. Via switching the phase states of Sb₂S₃ between amorphous and crystalline, we numerically demonstrate some unique applications of the proposed topological photonic crystals, such as topological optical switches, dual-channel selective transport, and controllable multi-channel intersection waveguides. More importantly, by digitally encoding each waveguide channel without the requirement of controlling each unit cell in the bulk domain, the proposed topological photonic platform provides a convenient and easy-to-implement solution for achieving dynamically reconfigurable topological wave routing propagation. Besides, the unique features of immunity against bending interface with disorders demonstrate the robustness of the topological wave propagation. Our proposed topological photonic platform has potential applications for designing intelligent photonic devices and opens up an avenue for advanced integrated photonic systems with reconfigurability.