- Accepted Paper
Observation of topological phases without crystalline counterparts
Phys. Rev. B - Accepted 4 November, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/t6tm-yp51
Phys. Rev. B - Accepted 4 November, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/t6tm-yp51
Topological phases have been extensively studied primarily in crystalline systems with translational symmetry. Recent theoretical studies, however, have demonstrated the existence of topological phases in quasicrystals that are absent in crystals. Here, we design a practically realizable tight-binding model on the Ammann-Beenker quasicrystalline lattice. This model respects eight-fold rotational and chiral symmetries, resulting in a higher-order topological phase with eight zero-energy corner modes that have no crystalline counterparts. We experimentally explore the topological phase in an acoustic quasicrystal. Surprisingly, we also discover symmetry-protected zero-energy modes near the center of the quasicrystal in a topologically trivial phase, a phenomenon not seen in crystals. We further experimentally observe these modes in a topologically trivial acoustic quasicrystal.
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