Active topolectrical circuits

The transfer of topological concepts from the quantum world to classical mechanical and electronic systems has opened fundamentally different approaches to protected information transmission and wave guidance. A particularly promising emergent technology is based on recently discovered topolectrical circuits that achieve robust electric signal transduction by mimicking edge currents in quantum Hall systems. In parallel, modern active matter research has shown how autonomous units driven by internal energy reservoirs can spontaneously self-organize into collective coherent dynamics. Here, we unify key ideas from these two previously disparate fields to develop design principles for active topolectrical circuits (ATCs) that can selfexcite topologically protected global signal patterns. Realizing autonomous active units through nonlinear Chua diode circuits, we theoretically predict and experimentally confirm the emergence of self-organized protected edge oscillations in one- and two-dimensional ATCs. The close agreement between theory, simulations, and experiments implies that nonlinear ATCs provide a robust and versatile platform for developing high-dimensional autonomous electrical circuits with topologically protected functionalities.

Automated summary

The transfer of topological concepts from quantum world to classical mechanical and electronic systems has opened new approaches to protected information transmission and wave guidance. By combining key ideas from topological circuits and active matter research, active topolectrical circuits that can self-excite protected global signal patterns have been developed. Through nonlinear ATCs, self-organized protected edge oscillations have been theoretically predicted and experimentally confirmed, providing a robust platform for developing high-dimensional autonomous electrical circuits with topologically protected functionalities.