Department of Physics and Institute for Condensed Matter Theory, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
Nat Commun. 2023 Feb 9;14(1):720. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36130-x.
While chirality imbalances are forbidden in conventional lattice systems, non-Hermiticity can effectively avoid the chiral-doubling theorem to facilitate 1D chiral dynamics. Indeed, such systems support unbalanced unidirectional flows that can lead to the localization of an extensive number of states at the boundary, known as the non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE). Recently, a generalized (rank-2) chirality describing a 2D robust gapless mode with dispersion ω = kk has been introduced in crystalline systems. Here we demonstrate that rank-2 chirality imbalances can be established in a non-Hermitian (NH) lattice system leading to momentum-resolved chiral dynamics, and a rank-2 NHSE where there are both edge- and corner-localized skin modes. We then experimentally test this phenomenology in a 2-dimensional topolectric circuit that implements a NH Hamiltonian with a long-lived rank-2 chiral mode. Using impedance measurements, we confirm the rank-2 NHSE in this system, and its manifestation in the predicted skin modes and a highly unusual momentum-position locking response. Our investigation demonstrates a circuit-based path to exploring higher-rank chiral physics, with potential applications in systems where momentum resolution is necessary, e.g., in beamformers and non-reciprocal devices.
在传统晶格系统中,手性失衡是被禁止的,而非厄米性可以有效地避免手性倍增定理,从而促进一维手性动力学。事实上,这类系统支持不平衡的单向流动,这可能导致大量的状态在边界处局域化,这被称为非厄米skin 效应(NHSE)。最近,在晶体系统中引入了一种广义(秩-2)手性来描述具有色散 ω=kk 的二维鲁棒无带模式。在这里,我们证明了在非厄米(NH)晶格系统中可以建立秩-2 手性失衡,从而导致动量分辨的手性动力学,以及秩-2 NHSE,其中既有边缘局域化的skin 模式,也有角局域化的skin 模式。然后,我们在一个二维拓扑电电路中实验验证了这一现象,该电路实现了一个具有长寿命秩-2 手性模式的 NH 哈密顿量。通过阻抗测量,我们确认了该系统中的秩-2 NHSE,以及其在手性模式和非常不寻常的动量-位置锁定响应中的表现。我们的研究展示了一种基于电路的探索更高秩手性物理的途径,在需要动量分辨率的系统中具有潜在的应用,例如在波束形成器和非互易器件中。