Observation of Flat Frequency Bands at Open Edges and Antiphase Boundary Seams in Topological Mechanical Metamaterials

Abstract

Motivated by the recent theoretical studies on a two-dimensional (2D) chiral Hamiltonian based on the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chains [L. Zhu, E. Prodan, and K. H. Ahn, Phys. Rev. B 99, 041117(R) (2019)], we experimentally and computationally demonstrate that topological flat frequency bands can occur at open edges of 2D planar metamaterials and at antiphase boundary seams of ring-shaped or tubular metamaterials. Specifically, using mechanical systems made of magnetically coupled spinners, we reveal that the presence of the edge or seam bands that are flat in the entire projected reciprocal space follows the predictions based on topological winding numbers. The edge-to-edge distance sensitively controls the flatness of the edge bands and the localization of excitations. The analogue of the fractional charge state is also observed. Possible realizations of flat bands in a large class of metamaterials, including photonic crystals and electronic metamaterials, are discussed.