Topological phase transition measured in a dissipative metamaterial

Eric I. Rosenthal, Nicole K. Ehrlich, Mark S. Rudner, Andrew P. Higginbotham, K. W. Lehnert

Published 2018-02-06Version 1

We construct a metamaterial from radio-frequency harmonic oscillators, and find two topologically distinct phases resulting from dissipation engineered into the system. These phases are distinguished by a quantized value of bulk energy transport. The impulse response of our circuit is measured and used to reconstruct the band structure and winding number of circuit eigenfunctions around a dark mode. Our results demonstrate that dissipation can lead to topological transport in a much wider class of physical systems than considered before.