Zak phase and band inversion in dimerized one-dimensional locally resonant metamaterials

The Zak phase, which refers to Berry's phase picked up by a particle moving across the Brillouin zone, characterizes the topological properties of Bloch bands in a one-dimensional periodic system. Here the Zak phase in dimerized one-dimensional locally resonant metamaterials is investigated. It is found that there are some singular points in the bulk band across which the Bloch states contribute {π} to the Zak phase, whereas in the rest of the band the contribution is nearly zero. These singular points associated with zero reflection are caused by two different mechanisms: the dimerization-independent antiresonance of each branch and the dimerization-dependent destructive interference in multiple backscattering. The structure undergoes a topological phase-transition point in the band structure where the band inverts, and the Zak phase, which is determined by the numbers of singular points in the bulk band, changes following a shift in dimerization parameter. Finally, the interface state between two dimerized metamaterial structures with different topological properties in the first band gap is demonstrated experimentally. The quasi-one-dimensional configuration of the system allows one to explore topology-inspired new methods and applications on the subwavelength scale.