Observation of two-dimensional time-reversal broken non-Abelian topological states

Yuze Hu; Mingyu Tong; Tian Jiang; Jian-Hua Jiang; Hongsheng Chen; Yihao Yang

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-54403-x

Observation of two-dimensional time-reversal broken non-Abelian topological states

Nat Commun. 2024 Nov 20;15(1):10036. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54403-x.

Authors

Yuze Hu^#^{1

2}, Mingyu Tong^#^{1

3}, Tian Jiang², Jian-Hua Jiang^{4

5

6}, Hongsheng Chen^{7

8

9

10}, Yihao Yang^{11

12

13}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
² Institute for Quantum Science and Technology, College of Science, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, China.
³ Shaoxing Institute of Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University, Shaoxing, China.
⁴ School of Biomedical Engineering, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. jhjiang3@ustc.edu.cn.
⁵ Suzhou Institute for Advanced Research, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou, China. jhjiang3@ustc.edu.cn.
⁶ Department of Modern Physics, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China. jhjiang3@ustc.edu.cn.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. hansomchen@zju.edu.cn.
⁸ Shaoxing Institute of Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University, Shaoxing, China. hansomchen@zju.edu.cn.
⁹ International Joint Innovation Center, The Electromagnetics Academy at Zhejiang university, Zhejiang University, Haining, China. hansomchen@zju.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Key Lab. of Advanced Micro/Nano Electronic Devices & Smart Systems of Zhejiang, Jinhua Institute of Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University, Jinhua, China. hansomchen@zju.edu.cn.
¹¹ State Key Laboratory of Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. yangyihao@zju.edu.cn.
¹² International Joint Innovation Center, The Electromagnetics Academy at Zhejiang university, Zhejiang University, Haining, China. yangyihao@zju.edu.cn.
¹³ Key Lab. of Advanced Micro/Nano Electronic Devices & Smart Systems of Zhejiang, Jinhua Institute of Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University, Jinhua, China. yangyihao@zju.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 39567543
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54403-x

Abstract

Going beyond the conventional theory, non-Abelian band topology reveals the global quantum geometry of multiple Bloch bands and unveils a new paradigm for topological physics. However, to date, experimental studies on non-Abelian topological states beyond one dimension are still restricted to systems with time-reversal ( $T$ ) symmetry. Here, exploiting a designer gyromagnetic photonic crystal, we find rich $T$ -broken non-Abelian topological phases and their transitions with an unexpected connection to multigap antichiral edge states. By in-situ tuning the magnetic field in the gyromagnetic photonic crystal, we can create, braid, merge, and split the non-Abelian topological nodes in a unique way. Alongside this process, the multigap antichiral edge states can be tuned versatilely, giving rise to topological edge waveguiding with frequency-dependent directionality. These findings open a new avenue for non-Abelian topological physics and topological photonics.