Understanding of topological mode and skin mode morphing in 1D and 2D non-Hermitian resonance-based meta-lattices

Abstract

Recent advances have demonstrated that the non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE), induced by system non-Hermiticity, can manipulate the localization of in-gap topological edge modes (TEMs) within mechanical topological insulators. This study introduces a straightforward analytical framework to elucidate the competition between NHSE and TEM localization in a classical mechanical meta-lattice, highlighting its impact on the dynamic behavior of TEMs within separate Bragg scattering band gaps (BSBGs). We propose a 1D non-Hermitian meta-lattice featuring a locally resonant system with active feedback control, characterized by a real-valued transfer function. This local resonance creates two separate BSBGs, each hosting a TEM defined by non-Hermitian bulk-edge correspondence. Our theoretical and numerical analyses reveal that the NHSE, with its asymmetric localization within the two BSBGs, can shift the localization of TEMs in distinct ways. This leads to an asymmetric phase transition, wherein one TEM can be delocalized and relocalized by tuning the transfer function, while the other maintains its initial localization. Moreover, we extend the mechanism of 1D asymmetric TEM delocalization to the non-Hermitian morphing of TEMs, showcasing notable examples such as temporal and spatial topological wave pumping with space- and time-dependent transfer functions in 1D time-varying and 2D stacked meta-lattices. This research bridges a gap between non-Hermitian mechanical constructs and their potential applications in classical mechanics, reinterpreting known topological wave control in 1D and uncovering new mechanisms in 2D.