Fragile topologically protected perfect reflection for acoustic waves

Abstract

Fragile topology is firstly demonstrated in acoustic crystals and then a realistic scheme is proposed to manipulate the transport of acoustic topological edge states (ATESs), i.e., by coupling them with side acoustic cavities. We find that single-mode cavities can completely flip the ATES pseudospin to form a perfect reflection, as long as their resonant frequencies fall into the topological band gap. The perfect reflection of the ATESs is protected by the fragile topology, which is proved by the one-dimensional topological waveguide-cavity transport theory. This fragile topologically protected perfect reflection is immune to the conventional defects (such as bending and disorder) and provides a realistic paradigm for manipulating the ATES transport. As examples, two potential applications, i.e., distance sensors and acoustic switches, are proposed based on the perfect reflection.