• Accepted Paper

Gigahertz quantum spin Hall effect in nanoelectromechanical phononic crystals

Yue Jiang, Shizai Chu, Xiaoru Zhang, Qicheng Zhang, Vincent Kerler, Keji Lai, and A. T. Charlie Johnson

Phys. Rev. Applied - Accepted 2 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/3gpm-mkyh

Abstract

The quantum spin Hall (QSH) phase is a paradigmatic time-reversal-symmetric topological insulator, carrying a Z2 bulk invariant and counter-propagating helical edge channels protected by spin-momentum locking. Since bosonic systems lack the microscopic Kramers degeneracy of electrons, the QSH phase in such systems is engineered from crystalline symmetry to form a synthetic spin-1/2 doublet. This analog has been realized in photonic crystals and in macroscopic kHz-MHz acoustic and elastic structures, but not yet on a chip-scale phononic platform in the microwave regime. The gigahertz (GHz) band is relevant for wireless communications and quantum acoustics, where on-chip work has so far been limited to the valley Hall effect. Here, we report the direct observation of pseudospin-momentum-locked helical phonon edge states at ~1 GHz in a nanoelectromechanical aluminum nitride (AlN) topological insulator. An enlarged supercell folds the K-point Dirac cones to the Gamma point, and tuning the inner-cluster geometry drives a p-d band inversion with nonzero spin Chern number, in direct correspondence with the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang Hamiltonian. The helical edge channel along the domain wall is resolved by transmission-mode microwave impedance microscopy (TMIM). A single-K-point Fourier filter of the complex displacement field reveals the opposite handedness of the two counter-propagating pseudospin branches. The channel propagates robustly through 120 degree corners of a Z-shaped waveguide and partitions selectively at a four-domain junction. Together with the valley Hall and Klein-tunneling phenomena already demonstrated on the same platform, our work establishes the acoustic analog of QSH phase as a building block of an integrated gigahertz phononic toolbox on a CMOS-compatible piezoelectric substrate.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation

If the author has provided any supplemental materials with this article they will be available upon publication of the version of record.

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation