Acoustic analogues of three-dimensional topological insulators

Abstract

Topological insulators (TIs) can host an insulating gapped bulk with conducting gapless boundary states in lower dimensions than the bulk. To date, various kinds of classical wave TIs with gapless symmetry-protected boundary states have been discovered, promising for the efficient confinement and robust guiding of waves. However, for airborne sound, an acoustic analogue of a three-dimensional TI has not been achieved due to its spinless nature. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a three-dimensional topological acoustic crystal with pseudospins using bilayer chiral structures, in which multi-order topological bandgaps are generated step by step via elaborately manipulating the corresponding spatial symmetries. We observe acoustic analogues of 1st-order (two-dimensional gapless surface Dirac cones) and 2nd-order (one-dimensional gapless hinge Dirac dispersion) TIs in three dimensions, supporting robust surface or hinge sound transport. Based solely on spatial symmetry, our work provides a route to engineer the hierarchies of TIs and explore topological devices for three-dimensional spinless systems.

An acoustic analogue of a three-dimensional topological insulator (TI) has not been achieved, despite various realizations in other kinds of TIs. Here, the authors report a three-dimensional multi-order TI in an acoustic bilayer chiral structure, with robust surface or hinge sound transport.