Acoustic quantum skyrmion-valley Hall effect

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates an acoustic quantum skyrmion--valley Hall effect in a phononic crystal, enabling robust and controllable skyrmion transport through engineered topological interactions.

Contribution

It experimentally realizes a topological acoustic skyrmion-valley Hall effect with controllable propagation via engineered spin--orbit--momentum interactions.

Findings

Skyrmions emerge as valley-locked topological edge states.

Skyrmion transport is robust along designed domain walls.

Transport can be controlled through selective excitation.

Abstract

Skyrmions are particle-like topological textures that hold great promise for low-power electronics and wave-based functionalities. Yet their utility is hindered by the lack of robust and controllable transport. Here, we show that band topology can be harnessed to overcome this limitation. We experimentally realize an acoustic quantum skyrmion--valley Hall effect in a surface phononic crystal via engineered spin--orbit--momentum interaction. Skyrmions emerge as valley-locked topological edge states, robustly propagating along designed domain walls. Crucially, the skyrmion transport exhibits concurrent orbital angular momentum (OAM)--valley locking and spin--texture locking, enabling controllable propagation through selective excitation. Our results establish a direct correspondence between real-space and momentum-space topology, providing a general strategy for robust, controllable skyrmion transport.