Observation of fractional topological numbers at photonic edges and corners

Abstract: Topological phases of matter are featured with exotic edge states. However, the fractional topological numbers at edges, though predicted long ago by Jackiw and Rebbi, remain elusive in topological photonic systems. Here, we report on the observation of fractional topological numbers at the topological edges and corners in one- and two-dimensional photonic crystals. The fractional topological numbers are determined via the measurements of the photonic local density-of-states. In one-dimensional photonic crystals, we witness a rapid change of the fractional topological number at the edges rising from 0 to 1/2 when the photonic band gap experiences a topological transition, confirming the well-known prediction of Jackiw and Rebbi. In two-dimensional systems, we discover that the fractional topological number in the corner region varies from 0 to 1/2 and 1/4 in different photonic band gap phases. Our study paves the way toward topological manipulation of fractional quantum numbers in photonics.