Acoustic topological Jackiw–Rebbi states at symmetry broken interfaces

Abstract

Topological insulators, a fundamental concept in modern condensed matter physics, support localized states at the interfaces between insulators exhibiting different topological phases, which conventionally rely on explicit symmetry breaking. Here, we propose a mechanism to induce a real-space topological phase transition by spontaneous symmetry breaking, thereby constructing an acoustic metagrating to generate nontrivial Jackiw-Rebbi states characterized by robust imaginary band degeneracy. Our experimental implementation verifies the acoustic delocalized interface state with a constant phase jump, demonstrating enhanced high-directivity topological radiation. We foresee that our findings may spark interest in engineering new acoustic topological devices.