Degeneration of topological corner, hinge, and surface states in three-dimensional photonic crystals.

Abstract

The third-order topological insulators based on three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals (PCs) have hardly been achieved because the nontrivial bandgap in 3D PCs is difficult to form. In this Letter, we elaborately construct 3D Su-Schrieffer-Heeger lattice in which the periodic modulation of refractive index is uniform in three axis directions. The high-order topological PCs are characterized by the nontrivial bulk polarizations and the mirror eigenvalues. Such a structure can achieve topological 1-codimensional surface states, 2-codimensional hinge states, and 3-codimensional corner states. More importantly, it is found for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that the topological states exhibit a degeneration behavior, i. e., the corner, and hinge state, or corner and surface states coexist at nearly the same frequency, but maintain their own mode properties. The multiple topological states in 3D PCs as well as the degeneration of topological states will open a new window for the study of topological photonics.