Observation of Unidirectional s-p Orbital Topological Edge States in Driven Photonic Lattices

Time-periodic modulation of a static system is a powerful method for realizing robust unidirectional topological states. So far, all such realizations have been based on interactions among s orbitals, without incorporating inter-orbital couplings. Here, we demonstrate higher-orbital Floquet topological insulators by introducing periodically modulated couplings between the optical s and p orbitals in a square lattice. The staggered phase of the s-p couplings gives rise to a synthetic uniform π magnetic flux per plaquette of the lattice, and periodic driving of the couplings opens a topological bandgap, characterized by the Floquet winding number. We image topological edge modes of s-p orbitals traveling unidirectionally around a corner. Here, the topological phases are realized by a combined effect of the periodic driving and synthetic magnetic flux. Consequently, when the synthetic flux is turned off, the system becomes trivial over a range of driving parameters. Our results open a promising pathway for exploring topological phenomena by introducing the orbital degree of freedom.