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⚛️ Topological Insulators: SSH Chain

Interactive 3D Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain of coupled sites where adjusting alternating hopping strengths switches the system between trivial and topological phases, revealing protected edge states at the boundary.

Materials Science3DModerate60 FPS

A 3D Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain of coupled sites where alternating hopping strengths between neighbours decide whether the chain is an ordinary insulator or a topological one with protected edge states.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

When the inter-cell hopping exceeds the intra-cell hopping, a mid-gap state appears at each end of the open chain, exponentially localized and protected by the winding number of the bulk — the essence of bulk-boundary correspondence.

🎮 How to Use

Drag the intra-cell and inter-cell hopping sliders to cross the phase transition and watch the atoms at each end glow as edge states switch on. Compare open and periodic geometry, or let the phase sweep animate automatically.

💡 Did You Know?

The SSH model was first written down in 1979 to explain solitons in polyacetylene — decades before "topological insulator" existed as a term — yet it remains the field's minimal textbook example.

⚙ Under the hood

Interactive 3D atomic chain where alternating hopping strengths in the SSH model shows how topologically protected edge states persist no matter how the boundary is perturbed.

topological-insulatorsssh-modeledge-statescondensed-matter-physicsband-topologymaterials-science

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install