Experimental study of 1D Su-Schrieffer-Heeger

edge modes in a water-wave channel

The main objective of this work is to experimentally investigate the topologically

protected edge-states and band gaps in a water waveguide with periodic geometry.
One of the representations of the topological states, provided by
the Su–Schrieffer–Heeger model (SSH) [1], is applied to describe the observed
phenomena [2]. A waveguide with step periodic width as well as corresponding
rectangular tank with constant width are examined using Confocal Displacement
Sensors allowing the measurement of water surface displacements. 2D numerical
simulations are carried out in order to verify the SSH model and experimental data.
The obtained results show that this very simple setup exhibits all the properties of the
SSH model with an excellent agreement to the water-wave systems.

measurement point
source

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4

Figure 1: Numerical and experimental results of the amplitude of the edge wave along the waveguide.
Geometry of the channel and the position of measurement points and source presented in the top.

References

[1] W.P. Su, J.R. Schrieffer and A.J. Heeger. Solitons in Polyacetylene. Phys. Rev.
Lett. 42, 1698-1701 (1979)
[2] L. Zheng, V. Achilleos, O. Richoux, G. Theocharis and V. Pagneux. Observation
of Edge Waves in a Two-Dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger Acoustic Network.
Phys. Rev. Applied 12, 034014 (2019)