Acoustic Higher-Order Topological Insulators Protected by Multipole Chiral Numbers

Abstract: Recently, the higher-order topological phases from the chiral AIII symmetry classes are characterized by a Z topological invariant known as the multipole chiral numbers, which indicate the number of degenerate zero-energy corner states at each corner. Here, we report the first experimental realization of higher-order topological insulators protected by multipole chiral numbers with using acoustic crystals. Our acoustic measurements demonstrate unambiguously the emergence of multiple corner states in the middle of the gap, as predicted by the quantized multipole chiral numbers. Our study may provoke new possibilities for controlling sound, such as acoustic sensing and energy trapping.