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Using Microwave and Macroscopic Samples of Dielectric Solids to Study the Photonic Properties of Disordered Photonic Bandgap Materials
Published on: September 26, 2014
Second-order topological phases in C 4 -symmetric photonic crystals beyond the two-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger
Yafeng Chen1,2, Zhihao Lan3, Jie Zhu2,4
1State Key Laboratory of Advanced Design and Manufacturing for Vehicle Body, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan 410082, China.
Abstract:
Second-order photonic topological insulators (SPTIs) with topologically protected corner states provide a unique platform for realizing the robust manipulation of light in lower dimensions. Previous SPTIs proposed in C 4 -symmetric lattices are mainly based on the two-dimensional (2D) Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model consisting of an even number of sites in the unit cell. Moreover, second-order topological phases within high-order band gaps are rarely explored. Here, we propose a new principle of SPTIs beyond the 2D SSH model, which is realized in C 4v-symmetric lattices consisting of an odd number of sites in the unit cell. The midgap-gap-ratios of these odd-order band gaps, from the first-order to the nineteenth-order with step of two-order, are maximized by the method of topology optimization. Second-order topological phases are successfully created within these sizeable band gaps and highly localized corner states are observed. Our work offers a new route for exploring high-order topological states in photonics and other classical systems.
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