Realization of a Topological Phase Transition in a Gyroscopic Lattice

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates real-time tuning of a mechanical topological metamaterial composed of gyroscopes, enabling the observation of a topological phase transition and its associated boundary phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a method to dynamically induce a topological phase transition in a gyroscopic lattice by breaking inversion symmetry, tracking topological invariants in real time.

Findings

Divergence of edge modes' localization length at transition

Change in Chern number across the phase transition

Real-time control of topological properties in mechanical metamaterials

Abstract

Topological metamaterials exhibit unusual behaviors at their boundaries, such as unidirectional chiral waves, that are protected by a topological feature of their band structure. The ability to tune such a material through a topological phase transition in real time could enable the use of protected waves for information storage and readout. Here we dynamically tune through a topological phase transition by breaking inversion symmetry in a metamaterial composed of interacting gyroscopes. Through the transition, we track the divergence of the edge modes' localization length and the change in Chern number characterizing the topology of the material's band structure. This work provides a new axis with which to tune the response of mechanical topological metamaterials.