Gliding photonic topological edge waves

Abstract Topological edge waves exist in the infinitely thin domain wall between two photonic crystals (PhCs) with opposite Berry phases. Compared to conventional waveguides that are prone to backscattering, edge waves under topological protection show robustness against localized defects. However, the influence brought by the structural glide is not fully understood. In this work, we investigate the change of topological edge waves by gliding the PhCs. We study two groups of valley edge constructions as examples. The transmission bandwidth, wave velocity, intrinsic losses and robustness are functions of the glide parameter. We fabricated samples and conducted experiments in the microwave regime, and measured results that matched well with the full-wave simulations. Our research indicates that glide-symmetric dislocation is an essential degree of freedom to manipulate topological edge waves.