No Arabic abstract
Higher-order topological insulators are a new class of topological phases of matter, originally conceived for electrons in solids. It has been suggested that $mathbb{Z}_N$ Berry phase (Berry phase quantized into $2pi/N$) is a useful tool to characterize the symmetry protected topological states, while the experimental evidence is still elusive. Recently, topolectrical circuits have emerged as a simple yet very powerful platform for studying topological physics that are challenging to realize in condensed matter systems. Here, we present the first experimental observation of second-order corner states characterized by $mathbb{Z}_3$ Berry phase in topolectrical circuits. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the localized second-order topological states are protected by a generalized chiral symmetry of tripartite lattices, and they are pinned to zero energy. By introducing extra capacitors within sublattices in the circuit, we are able to examine the robustness of the zero modes against both chiral-symmetry conserving and breaking disturbances. Our work paves the way for testing exotic topological band theory by electrical-circuit experiments.
The study of the laws of nature has traditionally been pursued in the limit of isolated systems, where energy is conserved. This is not always a valid approximation, however, as the inclusion of features like gain and loss, or periodic driving, qualitatively amends these laws. A contemporary frontier of meta-material research is the challenge open systems pose to the established characterization of topological matter. There, one of the most relied upon principles is the bulk-boundary correspondence (BBC), which intimately relates the properties of the surface states to the topological classification of the bulk. The presence of gain and loss, in combination with the violation of reciprocity, has recently been predicted to affect this principle dramatically. Here, we report the experimental observation of BBC violation in a non-reciprocal topolectric circuit. The circuit admittance spectrum exhibits an unprecedented sensitivity to the presence of a boundary, displaying an extensive admittance mode localization despite a translationally invariant bulk. Intriguingly, we measure a non-local voltage response due to broken BBC. Depending on the AC current feed frequency, the voltage signal accumulates at the left or right boundary, and increases as a function of nodal distance to the current feed.
Robust boundary states epitomize how deep physics can give rise to concrete experimental signatures with technological promise. Of late, much attention has focused on two distinct mechanisms for boundary robustness - topological protection, as well as the non-Hermitian skin effect. In this work, we report the first experimental realizations of hybrid higher-order skin-topological effect, in which the skin effect selectively acts only on the topological boundary modes, not the bulk modes. Our experiments, which are performed on specially designed non-reciprocal 2D and 3D topolectrical circuit lattices, showcases how non-reciprocal pumping and topological localization dynamically interplays to form various novel states like 2D skin-topological, 3D skin-topological-topological hybrid states, as well as 2D and 3D higher-order non-Hermitian skin states. Realized through our highly versatile and scalable circuit platform, theses states have no Hermitian nor lower-dimensional analog, and pave the way for new applications in topological switching and sensing through the simultaneous non-trivial interplay of skin and topological boundary localizations.
Symmetry-protected topological superconductors (TSCs) can host multiple Majorana zero modes (MZMs) at their edges or vortex cores, while whether the Majorana braiding in such systems is non-Abelian in general remains an open question. Here we uncover in theory the unitary symmetry-protected non-Abelian statisitcs of MZMs and propose the experimental realization. We show that braiding two vortices with each hosting $N$ unitary symmetry-protected MZMs generically reduces to $N$ independent sectors, with each sector braiding two different Majorana modes. This renders the unitary symmetry-protected non-Abelian statistics. As a concrete example, we demonstrate the proposed non-Abelian statistics in a spin-triplet TSC which hosts two MZMs at each vortex and, interestingly, can be precisely mapped to a quantum anomalous Hall insulator. Thus the unitary symmetry-protected non-Abelian statistics can be verified in the latter insulating phase, with the application to realizing various topological quantum gates being studied. Finally, we propose a novel experimental scheme to realize the present study in an optical Raman lattice. Our work opens a new route for Majorana-based topological quantum computation.
Knots are intricate structures that cannot be unambiguously distinguished with any single topological invariant. Momentum space knots, in particular, have been elusive due to their requisite finely tuned long-ranged hoppings. Even if constructed, probing their intricate linkages and topological drumhead surface states will be challenging due to the high precision needed. In this work, we overcome these practical and technical challenges with RLC circuits, transcending existing theoretical constructions which necessarily break reciprocity, by pairing nodal knots with their mirror image partners in a fully reciprocal setting. Our nodal knot circuits can be characterized with impedance measurements that resolve their drumhead states and image their 3D nodal structure. Doing so allows for reconstruction of the Seifert surface and hence knot topological invariants like the Alexander polynomial. We illustrate our approach with large-scale simulations of various nodal knots and an experiment that maps out the topological drumhead region of a Hopf-link.
Topological mechanics can realize soft modes in mechanical metamaterials in which the number of degrees of freedom for particle motion is finely balanced by the constraints provided by interparticle interactions. However, solid objects are generally hyperstatic (or overconstrained). Here, we show how symmetries may be applied to generate topological soft modes even in overconstrained, rigid systems. To do so, we consider non-Hermitian topology based on non-square matrices, and design a hyperstatic material in which low-energy modes protected by topology and symmetry appear at interfaces. Our approach presents a novel way of generating softness in robust scale-free architectures suitable for miniaturization to the nanoscale.