Square-root higher-order topological insulators in a photonic decorated SSH lattice

Wenchao Yan, Weizhao Cheng, Weijie Liu, Quancheng Liu, Feng Chen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Recently, there has been a surge of interest in square-root higher-order topological insulators (HOTIs) due to their unique topological properties inherited from their squared Hamiltonian. Different from conventional HOTIs, square-root HOTIs support paired corner states that exist in different bandgaps. In this work, we experimentally establish a series of two-dimensional photonic decorated Su–Schrieffer–Heeger (SSH) lattices by using the femtosecond-laser writing technique and thereby directly observe paired topological corner states. Interestingly, the higher-order topological properties of such square-root HOTIs are inherited from the parent Hamiltonian, which contains the celebrated 2D SSH lattice. The dynamic evolution of square-root corner states indicates that they exist in different bandgaps. This work not only provides a new platform to study higher-order topology in optics, it also brings about new possibilities for future studies of other novel HOTIs.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3765-3768
Number of pages4
JournalOptics Letters
Volume48
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Jul 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Optica Publishing Group.

Funding

Funding. Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2021 ZD02, ZR2023QA125); National Natural Science Foundation of China (12174222).

FundersFunder number
National Natural Science Foundation of China12174222
Natural Science Foundation of Shandong ProvinceZR2021 ZD02, ZR2023QA125

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