Realization of a topological phase transition in a gyroscopic lattice

Abstract

Topological metamaterials exhibit unusual behaviors at their boundaries, such as unidirectional chiral waves, that are protected by a topological feature of their band structures. The ability to tune such a material through a topological phase transition in real time could enable the use of protected waves for information storage and readout. Here we dynamically tune through a topological phase transition by breaking inversion symmetry in a metamaterial composed of interacting gyroscopes. Through the transition, we track the divergence of the edge modes' localization length and the change in Chern number characterizing the topology of the material's band structure. This Rapid Communication provides a new axis with which to tune the response of mechanical topological metamaterials.