Geometry and Topology Tango in Ordered and Amorphous Chiral Matter

Abstract: Systems as diverse as mechanical structures assembled from elastic components, and photonic metamaterials enjoy a common geometrical feature: a sublattice symmetry. This property realizes a chiral symmetry first introduced to characterize a number of electronic insulators in the vicinity of their energy gaps. In this article, we introduce a generic framework to elucidate and design zero-energy topological boundary modes in all systems enjoying a chiral symmetry, whether crystalline or amorphous. We first show how to distinguish chiral insulators from one another by a real-space measure: their chiral polarization. In crystals, we use it to redefine the very concept of bulk-boundary correspondence, and resolve long-standing ambiguities in its application to chiral insulators. In amorphous metamaterials, we use it to lay out generic geometrical rules to locate topologically distinct phases, and explain how to engineer localized zero-mode wave guides even more robust than in periodic structures.