A Topological View on Optical and Phononic Fabry–Perot Microcavities through the Su–Schrieffer–Heeger Model

• Main Authors: Martin Esmann, Norberto Daniel Lanzillotti-Kimura
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-03-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: nanomechanics; acoustics; band inversion; topology; Zak phase; Su–Schrieffer–Heeger model
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/8/4/527

Advances in nanofabrication technologies have enabled the study of acoustic wave phenomena in the technologically relevant GHz–THz range. First steps towards applying concepts from topology in nanophononics were made with the proposal of a new topological acoustic resonator, based on the concept of band inversion. In topology, the Su–Schrieffer–Heeger (SSH) model is the paradigm that accounts for the topological properties of many one-dimensional structures. Both the classical Fabry–Perot resonator and the reported topological resonators are based on Distributed Bragg Reflectors (DBRs). A clear and detailed relation between the two systems, however, is still lacking. Here, we show how a parallelism between the standard DBR-based acoustic Fabry–Perot type cavity and the SSH model of polyacetylene can be established. We discuss the existence of surface modes in acoustic DBRs and interface modes in concatenated DBRs and show that these modes are equivalent to Fabry–Perot type cavity modes. Although it is not possible to assign topological invariants to both acoustic bands enclosing the considered minigap in the nanophononic Fabry–Perot case, the existence of the confined mode in a Fabry–Perot cavity can nevertheless be interpreted in terms of the symmetry inversion of the Bloch modes at the Brillouin zone edge.