Geometric-anisotropy induced high-order topological insulators in nonsymmorphic photonic crystals

TL;DR

This paper explores how geometric anisotropy in nonsymmorphic photonic crystals induces high-order topological insulator phases, revealing complex topological transitions and interface states useful for optical signal control.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach using geometric anisotropy in 2D nonsymmorphic photonic crystals to realize high-order topological insulators with rich topological phase transitions.

Findings

Demonstration of topological phase transitions via Zak phase and Chern number analysis.

Identification of high-order Chern numbers and double interface states.

Extension of topological features from 2D to 3D photonic crystal slabs.

Abstract

To a significant extent, the rich physical properties of photonic crystals are determined by the underlying geometry, in which the composed symmetry operators and their combinations contribute to the unique topological invariant to characterize the topological phases. Particularly, the inter- and intra-coupling modulation in the two-dimensional (2D) Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model yields the topological phase transition, and exhibit first-order edge localized states and second-order corner localized corner states. In this work, we use the geometric anisotropy into the 2D square lattice composed of four rectangle blocks. We show a variety of topological phase transitions in designed nonsymmorphic photonic crystals (PCs) and these transitions shall be understood in terms of the Zak phase and Chern number in synthetic space, as well as the pseudospin-2 concept, combinationally. Furthermore, Zak phase winding in the periodic synthetic parameter space yields high-order Chern number and double interface states. Based on the extended Zak phase and pseudo-spin Hall effect, higher-order topological insulator is constructed in the PC system. The intriguing and abundant topological features are also sustained in the corresponding three-dimensional PC slab, which makes it a very interesting platform to control the flow of optical signals.