Topological vortex mode for flexural waves in pillared plates

[Display omitted] •The phase winding of topological vortex modes with high quality factors in pillared plates are observed experimentally.•The topological vibration modes are strongly robust against the random perturbation of resonant frequencies of pillars.•The frequency of the topological vortex mode is sensitive to added small-mass objects. Localized topological modes with high robustness to various perturbations are receiving increasing attention. Recently, zero-order topological vortex modes have been designed in phononic structures, in analogy with zero-energy fermionic states modulated by Jackiw-Rossi binding mechanism. Such localized modes may have potential applications for biosensing, bioimaging and on-chip communication. In this work, we propose a pillared phononic plate with a Kekulé distortion of pillars position to bind topological modes at a vortex core via dispersion engineering. The phase winding and amplitude diagrams of the topological vortex mode are observed experimentally. It is found that existence of vibration peaks and corresponding mode patterns are strongly robust against the random perturbation of resonant frequencies of pillars at the vortex core. We further design a topological resonant sensor for mass sensitivity. The frequency of the topological vortex mode is almost linearly sensitive to added small mass at the vortex core in terms of mass values and positions. The proposed pillared plates provide a platform for potential applications such as energy localization and harvesting, remote health monitoring.