Topological invisibility in chiral mirror lattices

Abstract

The hallmark of topological phases in periodic materials is the existence of localized modes on the edges. These modes benefit from topological protection, that renders them immune to backscattering over defects or disorder. However, in the context of classical waves such as in photonics or acoustics, total immunity to backscattering has never been achieved so far. In this presentation, I will show how to obtain not only perfect transmission but also invisbility of topological edge waves by exploiting the combination of chiral and mirror symmetry. This guarantees a unit transmission coefficient with a zero phase shift for edge waves scattering across symmetry preserving defects or disorder.