Topological Gaseous Polariton in Realistic

Jeffrey B. Parker∗ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA

J. B. Marston Brown Theoretical Physics Center and Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912-1843, USA

Steven M. Tobias Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom

Ziyan Zhu Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

Nontrivial topology in bulk matter has been linked with the existence of topologically protected interfacial states. We show that a gaseous plasmon polariton (GPP), an electromagnetic surface existing at the boundary of magnetized plasma and vacuum, has a topological origin that arises from the nontrivial topology of magnetized plasma. Because a gaseous plasma cannot sustain a sharp interface with discontinuous density, one must consider a gradual density falloff with scale length comparable to or longer than the wavelength of the wave. We show that the GPP may be found within a gapped spectrum in present-day laboratory devices, suggesting that platforms are currently available for experimental investigation of topological wave physics in plasmas.

Edge states arising from topologically nontrivial bulk trivial topology of a magnetized plasma. The applied matter have attracted significant recent attention. For magnetic field breaks time-reversal symmetry, and there- example, topological insulators and the quantum Hall fore the topology is analogous to that of the integer quan- states are now understood as manifestations of topol- tum Hall effect [21] or Kelvin [17]. While other sur- ogy [1,2], and similar reasoning has been applied to a face waves in inhomogeneous or bounded plasmas have diverse range of other physical systems [3]. Edge states been investigated previously [22, 23], topological aspects have garnered intense practical interest due to topologi- have not been considered. The GPP initially appears cal protection and the prospect for robust, undirectional from similar mathematical structure as the surface mag- propagation with reduced losses to scattering from de- netoplasmon polariton occurring at the surface of metals fects. In analogy to the systems in the quantum mechan- or semiconductors [24, 25]. However, the internal struc- ical regime, classical systems, including photonics [4–10], tures of metals and plasmas are quite different, and quan- acoustics [11–13], mechanical systems [14, 15], as well as tum corrections are unlikely to play an important role continuum fluids [16–19], can exhibit topological quanti- in the gaseous plasma considered here. Another criti- zation as well as edge states between topologically dis- cal difference is that gaseous plasmas, unlike metals and tinct states of matter. semiconductors, cannot sustain sharp interfaces where Plasmas support rich wave physics, especially in the the density jumps essentially discontinuously. The spa- presence of a magnetic field, multiple species, kinetic dis- tial variation of the plasma density introduces additional tributions, and inhomogeneity. Analysis of band struc- physics such as a changing upper hybrid , and ture and wave dispersion properties has been a corner- the character of the local dispersion relation may shift stone in the understanding of plasma waves, leading to across the plasma. The question of whether or not a important practical applications such as current drive plasma can support the GPP when the density varies and heating for fusion devices. Yet the topological char- over a length scale larger than a wavelength has not yet acterization of plasma band structure, and its conse- been addressed. Potential uses of surface waves like the GPP include surface-mode-sustained plasma discharges arXiv:1911.01069v2 [physics.plasm-ph] 12 May 2020 quences for edge states, has not been fully appreciated. One recent work has proposed that the reversed-shear [26, 27]. Alfv´eneigenmode observed in tokamaks arises from the We consider a plasma with realistic density profile and nontrivial topology associated with magnetic shear and demonstrate the GPP can be supported, and further- the topological phase transition across a zero-shear layer more we show that parameter regimes in which the GPP [20]. is accessible may be attained in currently existing labora- Here we consider one of the simplest plasmas, a dilute tory devices. Our results motivate experiments to probe gas of ions and in a magnetic field. We inves- many of the open issues regarding topological waves in tigate the topological gaseous plasmon polariton (GPP), plasmas, such as to what extent they exhibit topological an electromagnetic surface wave that arises due to non- protection, and how nonlinearities affect their behavior. 2

We adopt the cold-plasma model of a magnetized, sta- c/ωp, velocity to eE/meωp, electric field to E, and mag- tionary plasma, appropriate for waves when the netic field to E/c, where E is some reference electric field. thermal speed is much less than the speed of Then the only parameter is σ = sign(B0)Ωe/ωp, where light. We assume a high-frequency regime and retain only Ωe = |eB0/me| is the electron cyclotron frequency. Upon the electron motion, treating ions as an immobile neu- letting ∂/∂t → −iω and ∇ → ik, we obtain the eigen- tralizing background. Electron collisions are neglected value equation H |fi = ω |fi, where |fi = v E B is a for the dilute plasmas considered here because the col- 9-element vector and H is a 9 × 9 Hermitian matrix cor- lision frequency is orders of magnitude smaller than the responding to the linear operator, which plays the role wave frequency of interest. The linearized equations of of an effective Hamiltonian. We work in Cartesian co- motion for an infinite homogeneous plasma are [28] ordinates. The matrix H is written out explicitly in the Supplemental Material [29]. ∂v e = − (E + v × B0), (1a) We allow for an arbitrary propagation angle with re- ∂t me spect to the magnetic field. We fix kz and consider a pa- ∂E 2 ene = c ∇ × B + v, (1b) rameter space k⊥ = (kx, ky). This problem is isotropic ∂t 0 in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field. For ∂B = −∇ × E, (1c) each k⊥, there are 9 solutions for the eigenvalues ωn, ∂t for n = −4, −3,..., 4, which we order by ascending fre- where v is the electron fluid velocity, E the electric quency, and ω−n = −ωn. The corresponding eigenfunc- tions are denoted |ni. Except for certain values of k and field, B0 = B0ˆz the background magnetic field, B the z perturbation magnetic field, e the elementary charge, σ, the eigenvalues are nondegenerate. The band struc- ture is shown in Fig.1. ne the background electron density, me the electron mass, c the speed of light, and 0 the permittivity of When the eigenvalues are nondegenerate, frequency free space. It is convenient to work in nondimension- band n may be characterized by a Chern number Cn = −1 −1 alized units in which time is normalized to ωp , where (2π) dk⊥ Fn(k⊥), where the Berry curvature Fn(k) 2 1/2 ωp = (nee /me0) is the plasma frequency, length to of the band at a given k is given by R

∂H ∂H ∂H ∂H n m m n − m n n m ∂k ∂k ∂k ∂k x y x y Fn(k) = i      2   . (2) ( ωn − ωm) m6=n X

2 2 −1 The Chern numbers C1,C3,C4 are integer valued, but r(k) = (1 + |k⊥| /kc ) for some cutoff wave number C2 takes noninteger values when using the linear opera- kc. This modification functionally alters the plasma fre- tor in Eq. (1). The issue of a “noninteger Chern num- quency to become small at small length scales. To pre- ber” stems from a lack of insufficient smoothness at small serve Hermiticity, we also modify the nondimensionalized scales of the linear operator H, which leads to the inabil- Ampere–Maxwell equation to be ∂tE = ∇ × B + r(k)v. ity to compactify the infinite k plane [16]. If H falls off Using the discreteness regularization, the Chern num- sufficiently rapidly, one can map the k plane into the bers are integer valued and are independent of the form Riemann sphere, which is compact. of r(k) as long as it decays sufficiently rapidly. The regu- larization removes noninteger contributions from infinite An integer C2 can be restored through regularization of H. Regularization of continuous electromagnetic media k while retaining the integer-valued contribution from based on the notion of material discreteness has been ad- finite k. A key point is that kc may be taken to be dressed previously [16, 30], although other means of com- arbitrarily large, such that the physical effect of the reg- pactifying continuum fluids have been discussed [31, 32]. ularization at length scales of interest can be made ar- The plasma ceases to look like a continuous medium at bitrarily small. Additional details can be found in the sufficiently small length scales, which the fluid model Supplemental Material [29]. does not take into account. To model this physical dis- We consider kz > 0. Because bands 2 and 3 touch at ∗ ∗ 2 creteness, the regularization suppresses the plasma re- kz = kz , where (ckz /ωp) = σ/(1 + σ), there are two ∗ ∗ ∗ sponse at small scales. In the Fourier representation, the distinct regimes: kz < kz and kz > kz . At kz < kz , nondimensionalized electron equation of motion is mod- the Chern numbers of the positive-frequency bands are ified to be ∂tv = −r(k)E − σv × ˆz, where r becomes Cn = −1, 2, 0, −1, for n = 1, 2, 3, 4, shown in Fig.1. The small at large wave vectors. For instance, we can take Chern number of the zero-frequency band is 0, and the 3

3.0 3.0 (a) (b) is simply Eq. (1) with the replacement ne → ne(r). For 1 2.5 2.5 the density profile we use ne = 2 n0(tanh[(r0−r)/Ln]+1), C4 = 1 where Ln is the length scale over which the density de- 2.0 2.0 − C4 = 1 p − cays. 1.5 1.5 C3 = 1 C3 = 0 We decompose eigenmodes as f(x, t) = ω/ω i(mθ+kz z−ωt) 1.0 1.0 f(r)e . We solve the radial eigenvalue C2 = 2 C2 = 1 equation using the spectral code Dedalus [35]. Numeri- 0.5 0.5 C1 = 1 cally, we consider a radial domain [a, b] where a > 0, and C1 = 1 − 0.0 − 0.0 for simplicity apply conducting-wall boundary conditions 2 0 2 2 0 2 − − at both r = a and r = b. Since the mode of interest ck /ω ck /ω y p y p is a surface wave localized near r = r0, a conducting boundary at r = a can be used even when the physical FIG. 1. Spectrum of a magnetized, homogeneous cold plasma situation has no inner wall as long as the surface wave as a function of k (k set to zero, but the system is isotropic y x has sufficiently small amplitude at r = a. It would be in the xy plane), where only electron motion is retained. Here, preferable to use the more physical boundary condition σ = 0.5. (a) ckz/ωp = 0.4 (kz < kz∗). (b) ckz/ωp = 1.1 of no inner wall and requiring only regularity at r = 0, (kz > kz∗). Also shown are the Chern numbers of the positive- frequency bands, computed with the use of the discreteness but we are restricted by our current numerical tools. regularization. This more physical geometry could in principle allow the existence of another class of body modes [22]. However, for the specific parameters used here, consideration of Chern numbers of the negative-frequency bands are the the dispersion relation near the plasma center indicates ∗ negative of their positive-frequency partner. For kz < kz , there can be no propagating modes. the band structure smoothly transitions to kz = 0. At The eigenmodes and spectrum are shown for one set of kz = 0, bands 2 and 4 become X waves, band 3 is the parameters in Figs.2(b) and2(c). Here, we take r0 = 25 11 −3 O wave, and band 1 has degenerate frequency ω = 0. cm, Ln = 5 cm, B0 = 0.1 T, and n0 = 4 × 10 cm , ∗ Different Chern numbers are obtained for kz > kz : Cn = which gives σ = Ωe/ωp0 = 0.5, where ωp0 is the plasma −1, 1, 1, −1 for n = 1, 2, 3, 4. Hence, multiple plasma frequency computed with n0. We take ckz/ωp0 = 0.8. bands are topologically nontrivial. If the direction of B0 These parameters have been chosen because they are ac- is reversed, the Chern number also flips sign. The gap cessible to existing laboratory devices. For example, the 1 Chern number is n=−4 Cn = C1 = −1 for any kz. Large Plasma Device (LAPD) has reported similar mag- The gap between the first and second band of the netic field values and density profiles [36, 37]. At these P plasma can overlap with a forbidden band in vacuum. densities and typical electron temperatures (∼ 10 eV), The dispersion relation for electromagnetic waves in vac- the earlier assumptions justifying the cold plasma model 2 2 2 uum is ω = c k . For nonzero kz, there is a forbidden are well satisfied. 2 2 2 region for ω < c kz in which waves cannot propagate. In Fig.2(c), the GPP crosses the band gap 0 .3 < If the plasma parameters can be engineered such that ω/ωp0 < 0.5. The electric-field polarization of the eigen- the band gaps in the plasma and vacuum overlap, bulk- function is displayed in Fig.2(b) for m = −8, which boundary correspondence implies the existence of a undi- shows that the GPP is a surface wave localized to the rectional surface mode crossing the gap. region between the plasma and vacuum. There are no Previous work has considered a wave propagating at other waves for the GPP to scatter into at this kz. the planar, discontinuous interface of a semi-infinite, When ω > Ωe, upper hybrid modes become accessi- uniform-density magnetized plasma and vacuum [33]. ble. These modes are identifiable as upper hybrid be- However, a sharp interface is not physically realizable cause their frequency is approximately independent of m for gaseous plasma. The interface width is typically lim- and the eigenfunctions are localized around the radial lo- ited by classical or turbulent diffusion processes and may cation corresponding with the frequency of local upper 2 2 2 be larger than the length scale of the wave. A notable hybrid oscillations, ω = ωp(r) + Ωe. The upper hy- exception is nonneutral plasma, for which the interface brid modes in the low- and intermediate-density region width can be made comparable to the Debye length [34]. restrict the gapped frequency range and constitute a dis- To determine whether the GPP can propagate in a tinct difference from the spectrum of a plasma and vac- realistic plasma, we consider a cylindrical plasma with uum separated by a sharp interface. If the plasma density magnetic field aligned along the z axis. We take into ac- is uniform and discontinuously jumps to zero, the only 2 2 count a density profile that varies smoothly with radius, upper hybrid frequency is ωp0 + Ωe. as shown in Fig.2(a). For simplicity, we assume a uni- In a laboratory plasma, the strength of the applied form magnetic field. We assume the background plasma magnetic field is one of the simplest parameters to adjust has azimuthal symmetry and translational symmetry in experimentally and is thus an important control knob. z. The wave equation for an inhomogeneous cold plasma Figure3 shows how the spectrum varies with the mag- 4 )

3 (a) Our discussion has focused consideration on a single 4 − 10 20 30 40 50 kz. The physical system itself is three dimensional, which cm unlike the two-dimensional case, is not expected to have

11 Mode centroid r (cm) 2 topologically suppressed scattering [38]. However, the ex- 1.2 (c) istence of the surface wave is still protected topologically against small perturbations. Furthermore, magnetized

Density (10 1.0 0 plasmas tend to be much more uniform along the mag- )

8 0.8 netic field than perpendicular to it. Physically, this is 0

− (b) 1.0 p because charged particles stream freely along a magnetic = Re(Ez) 0.6

Im(Er) ω/ω field line but are tied to the field line in the perpendicular m 0.5 direction by the cyclotron motion. As a result, plasma 0.4 0.0 GPP nonuniformities along a magnetic field are smoothed out 0.2 very quickly, and there would be very low spectral power Re(Eθ) 0.5 in modes with kz/k⊥ ∼ 1. This separation of scales has − 0.0 Eigenfunction ( 10 20 30 40 50 0 50 been observed to hold in the LAPD, with flutelike drift- − Radius r (cm) Mode number m Alfv´enperturbation modes that have very small kz [39] and fluctuate slowly (tens of kHz) compared to the GPP FIG. 2. Spectrum of an inhomogeneous magnetized plasma. (∼GHz). Therefore, to a first approximation, the system Here, ckz/ωp0 = 0.8 and σ = 0.5. (a) Plasma density as a is translationally invariant and kz will be conserved. function of radius. (b) Nonzero components of GPP electric field at azimuthal mode number m = −8 . (c) Spectrum as a In summary, we have shown that the gaseous plas- function of m, where color corresponds to the mode centroid mon polariton, which arises from the nontrivial topol- of the energy in the electric field. The GPP dispersion relation ogy of waves in a bulk magnetized plasma, can exist is indicated and crosses the band gap. There is another mode at the plasma-vacuum interface with a realistic, grad- (not shown) in the numerical solution which is localized to ual plasma density falloff. The density scale length can the inner wall and stems from the artificial conducting-wall be comparable to the wavelength. For certain choices boundary condition. of plasma density and magnetic field, the wave prop- agates in a gapped frequency range and thus may be able to serve as a protected probe of plasma in tokamaks 1.0 and other plasma devices. We have shown that such pa- rameter regimes are achievable in present-day cylindrical 0 p σ = 0.3 σ = 1.0 plasma devices, such as the Large Plasma Device at the 0.5 ω/ω Basic Plasma Science Facility. Laboratory experiments to confirm the existence of this topological edge mode are therefore in reach. Properties of the wave that can 0.0 be predicted and compared with measurements include 1.0 the frequency, dispersion relation, radial localization, and . Such experiments could confirm the first 0 p σ = 2.0 σ = 5.0 controlled observation of a wave of topological origin in 0.5

ω/ω a gaseous plasma. We acknowledge useful discussions with Troy Carter, 0.0 Bart Van Compernolle, George Morales, Hong Qin, and 50 0 50 50 0 50 − − Shreekrishna Tripathi. J. B. P.’s work was performed m m under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Con- FIG. 3. Spectrum for various magnetic field strengths σ = tract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344. J. B. P. and J. B. M. |Ωe|/ωp0. Other parameters and color scale are as in Fig.2. would like to acknowledge the workshop Vorticity in the Universe held at the Aspen Center for Physics in the sum- mer of 2017 and supported by National Science Founda- netic field strength. For Ωe < ωp0, the band gap shrinks tion Grant No. PHY-1607611, which played an important because the lowest upper hybrid frequency decreases, and role in bringing about this work. S. M. T. is supported for |Ωe| > ωp0, the band gap shrinks because the top of by the European Research Council (ERC) under the Eu- the lower band rises to meet the bottom the upper band. ropean Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation pro- Maximizing the size of the bandg ap, which is achieved gram (Grant Agreement No. D5S-DLV-786780). Z. Z. is for Ωe ≈ ωp0, will isolate the GPP from other modes and supported by the STC Center for Integrated Quantum ease its detection. Materials, NSF Grant No. DMR1231319. 5

Tobias, Nontrivial topology in the continuous spec- trum of a magnetized plasma (2019), arXiv:1909.07910 [physics.plasm-ph]. ∗ [email protected] [21] D. J. Thouless, M. Kohmoto, M. P. Nightingale, and [1] M. Z. Hasan and C. L. Kane, Colloquium: Topological M. den Nijs, Quantized hall conductance in a two- insulators, Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 3045 (2010). dimensional periodic potential, Phys. Rev. Lett. 49, 405 [2] X.-L. Qi and S.-C. Zhang, Topological insulators and (1982). superconductors, Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 1057 (2011), [22] A. W. Trivelpiece and R. W. Gould, Space charge waves 1008.2026. in cylindrical plasma columns, J. Appl. Phys. 30, 1784 [3] I. Martin, Y. M. Blanter, and A. F. Morpurgo, Topo- (1959). logical confinement in bilayer graphene, Phys. Rev. Lett. [23] B. N. Breizman and A. V. Arefiev, Radially localized 100, 036804 (2008). helicon modes in nonuniform plasma, Phys. Rev. Lett. [4] Z. Wang, Y. Chong, J. D. Joannopoulos, and M. Soljaci´c, 84, 3863 (2000). Observation of unidirectional backscattering-immune [24] J. J. Brion, R. F. Wallis, A. Hartstein, and E. Burstein, topological electromagnetic states, Nature (London) 461, Theory of surface magnetoplasmons in semiconductors, 772 (2009). Phys. Rev. Lett. 28, 1455 (1972). [5] L. Feng, M. Ayache, J. Huang, Y.-L. Xu, M.-H. Lu, Y.-F. [25] H. Bin, Z. Ying, and W. Q. Jie, Surface magneto plas- Chen, Y. Fainman, and A. Scherer, Nonreciprocal light mons and their applications in the infrared , propagation in a silicon photonic circuit, Science 333, Nanophotonics, Nanophotonics 4, 383 (2015). 729 (2011). [26] C. M. Ferreira, Theory of a plasma column sustained by [6] Y. Plotnik, M. C. Rechtsman, D. Song, M. Heinrich, a surface wave, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 14, 1811 (1981). J. M. Zeuner, S. Nolte, Y. Lumer, N. Malkova, J. Xu, [27] Y. M. Aliev, H. Schl¨uter,and A. Shivarova, Guided- A. Szameit, Z. Chen, and M. Segev, Observation of un- Wave-Produced Plasmas (Springer, 2000). conventional edge states in ‘photonic graphene’, Nature [28] T. Stix, Waves in Plasmas (American Inst. of Physics, Materials 13, 57 (2014). 1992). [7] S. A. Skirlo, L. Lu, and M. Soljaci´c,Multimode one-way [29] See supplemental material in addendum for the effective waveguides of large chern numbers, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, Hamiltonian matrix and additional details regarding the 113904 (2014). calculation of the Chern number. [8] L. Lu, J. D. Joannopoulos, and M. Solja˘ci´c,Topological [30] G. W. Hanson, S. A. H. Gangaraj, and A. Nemilentsau, photonics, Nat. Photonics 8, 821 (2014). Notes on photonic topological insulators and scattering- [9] S. A. Skirlo, L. Lu, Y. Igarashi, Q. Yan, J. Joannopou- protected edge states - a brief introduction (2016), los, and M. Soljaci´c,Experimental observation of large arXiv:1602.02425, arXiv:1602.02425 [cond-mat.mes-hall]. chern numbers in photonic crystals, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, [31] C. Tauber, P. Delplace, and A. Venaille, A bulk-interface 253901 (2015). correspondence for equatorial waves, J. Fluid Mech. 868, [10] S. A. H. Gangaraj and F. Monticone, Topologically- 10.1017/jfm.2019.233 (2019). protected one-way leaky waves in nonreciprocal plas- [32] A. Souslov, K. Dasbiswas, M. Fruchart, S. Vaikun- monic structures, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 30, 104002 tanathan, and V. Vitelli, Topological waves in fluids with (2018). odd viscosity, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 128001 (2019). [11] V. Peano, C. Brendel, M. Schmidt, and F. Marquardt, [33] B. Yang, M. Lawrence, W. Gao, Q. Guo, and S. Zhang, Topological phases of sound and light, Phys. Rev. X 5, One-way helical electromagnetic wave propagation sup- 031011 (2015). ported by magnetized plasma, Sci. Rep. 6, 21461 (2016). [12] Z. Yang, F. Gao, X. Shi, X. Lin, Z. Gao, Y. Chong, and [34] J. R. Danielson and C. M. Surko, Radial compression B. Zhang, Topological acoustics, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, and torque-balanced steady states of single-component 114301 (2015). plasmas in penning-malmberg traps, Phys. Plasmas 13, [13] C. He, X. Ni, H. Ge, X.-C. Sun, Y.-B. Chen, M.-H. Lu, 055706 (2006). X.-P. Liu, and Y.-F. Chen, Acoustic topological insulator [35] K. J. Burns, G. M. Vasil, J. S. Oishi, D. Lecoanet, and and robust one-way sound transport, Nat. Phys. 12, 1124 B. P. Brown, Dedalus: A flexible framework for numerical (2016). simulations with spectral methods, Phys. Rev. Research [14] L. M. Nash, D. Kleckner, A. Read, V. Vitelli, A. M. 2, 023068 (2020). Turner, and W. T. M. Irvine, Topological mechanics of [36] W. Gekelman, P. Pribyl, Z. Lucky, M. Drandell, D. Lene- gyroscopic metamaterials, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. man, J. Maggs, S. Vincena, B. Van Compernolle, S. K. P. 112, 14495 (2015). Tripathi, G. Morales, T. A. Carter, Y. Wang, and T. De- [15] S. D. Huber, Topological mechanics, Nat. Phys. 12, 621 Haas, The upgraded large plasma device, a machine for (2016). studying frontier basic plasma physics, Rev. Sci. Instrum. [16] M. G. Silveirinha, Chern invariants for continuous media, 87, 025105 (2016). Phys. Rev. B 92, 125153 (2015). [37] J. E. Maggs, T. A. Carter, and R. J. Taylor, Transition [17] P. Delplace, J. B. Marston, and A. Venaille, Topological from bohm to classical diffusion due to edge rotation of origin of equatorial waves, Science 358, 1075 (2017). a cylindrical plasma, Phys. Plasmas 14, 052507 (2007). [18] S. Shankar, M. J. Bowick, and M. C. Marchetti, Topo- [38] Y. Ando, Topological insulator materials, J. Phys. Soc. logical sound and flocking on curved surfaces, Phys. Rev. Jpn. 82, 102001 (2013). X 7, 031039 (2017). [39] J. R. Pe˜nano,G. J. Morales, and J. E. Maggs, Drift- [19] M. Perrot, P. Delplace, and A. Venaille, Topological tran- alfv´enfluctuations associated with a narrow pressure stri- sition in stratified fluids, Nat. Phys. 15, 781 (2019). ation, Phys. Plasmas 7, 144 (2000). [20] J. B. Parker, J. W. Burby, J. B. Marston, and S. M. 6

Supplementary Material for the paper Topological Gaseous Plasmon Polariton in Realistic Plasma

Effective Hamiltonian for a cold plasma

Here we derive the 9×9 matrix H corresponding to the effective Hamiltonian for a cold plasma. As given in Eq. (1) of the main paper, the linearized equations for an infinite, homogeneous cold plasma are ∂v e = − (E + v × B0), ∂t me ∂E en = c2∇ × B + e v, ∂t 0 ∂B = −∇ × E, ∂t where electron dynamics are retained and ions are assumed stationary. The applied magnetic field B0 = B0ˆz is uniform in space and constant in time. −1 We normalize time to ωp , length to c/ωp, velocity to eE/meωp, electric field to E, and magnetic field to E/c, 2 1/2 where ωp = (nee /me0) is the plasma frequency, ne is the background electron density, e is the electron charge, me is the electron mass, 0 is the permittivity of free space, c is the speed of light, and E is some reference electric field. In normalized variables, the linearized equations become ∂v = −E − σv × ˆz, (1a) ∂t ∂E = ∇ × B + v, (1b) ∂t ∂B = −∇ × E, (1c) ∂t where σ = sign(B0)Ωe/ωp, and Ωe = |eB0/me| is the electron cyclotron frequency. We Fourier transform in space and time, letting ∂t → −iω and ∇ → ik. We write the state vector in Cartesian components as

vx vy   vz Ex   |fi = Ey  (2)   Ez    Bx   By   Bz      Then Eq. (1) can be rewritten as the matrix equation ω |fi = H |fi, where H is the Hermitian 9 × 9 matrix,

0 −iσ 0 −i 0 0 0 0 0 iσ 0 0 0 −i 0 0 0 0  0 0 0 0 0 −i 0 0 0   i 0 0 0 0 0 0 kz −ky   H =  0 i 0 0 0 0 −kz 0 kx  . (3)    0 0 i 0 0 0 ky −kx 0     0 0 0 0 −kz ky 0 0 0     0 0 0 kz 0 −kx 0 0 0     0 0 0 −ky kx 0 0 0 0      Hence, H plays the role of the effective Hamiltonian. 7

Regularization through plasma discreteness

A regularization of the Hamiltonian is motivated based on the physical fact that at small enough scales, the plasma ceases to look like a continuous medium, i.e., at scales smaller than the average inter-particle spacing. For electromagnetic waves at such small scales, the plasma cannot effectively respond. The continuum fluid representation ignores this fact. However, one can try to emulate the physical behavior within the fluid representation by modifying the Hamiltonian in the following way. In the Fourier representation, we introduce a regularizing factor r(k) into the linearized equations of motion to suppress the plasma response at small scales. Equation (1a) is modified to be

∂tv = −r(k)E − σv × ˆz, (4) and Eq. (1b) is modified to be

∂tE = ∇ × B + r(k)v. (5)

The regularized Hamiltonian matrix takes the form

0 −iσ 0 −ir(k) 0 0 0 0 0 iσ 0 0 0 −ir(k) 0 0 0 0  0 0 0 0 0 −ir(k) 0 0 0  ir(k) 0 0 0 0 0 0 kz −ky   H =  0 ir(k) 0 0 0 0 −kz 0 kx  , (6)    0 0 ir(k) 0 0 0 ky −kx 0     0 0 0 0 −kz ky 0 0 0     0 0 0 kz 0 −kx 0 0 0     0 0 0 −ky kx 0 0 0 0      which remains Hermitian. Since the regularization is a mathematical convenience rather than an attempt at a faithful model of the actual discrete-particle nature of the plasma, the functional form of r is a free choice. For example, we can take 1 r(k) = p (7) 1 + (k⊥/kc)

2 2 for some cutoff wavenumber kc and positive exponent p, where k⊥ = kx + ky. Observe r ≈ 1 for k⊥  kc, while −p r ∼ k⊥ for k⊥  kc. q Mathematically, regularization is expected to restore smoothness in some sense at small spatial scales, i.e., wavenum- bers at infinity. This in turn should allow a compactification to the Riemann sphere by ensuring behavior at the north pole is sufficiently regular. More technical details are given by Silveirinha [Silveirinha 2015]; compactification has also been discussed through odd viscosity [Tauber et al. 2019, Souslov et al. 2019]. Once compactification can be achieved, the Chern theorem, which states that for a compact two-dimensional manifold, the integral of the Berry curvature is an integer equal to the Chern number, is applicable. The stereographic projection map to the Riemann sphere is never explicitly needed as the integration can be performed using coordinates on the plane.

Chern number with and without regularization

∗ Without loss of generality, we take kz ≥ 0 and σ > 0. As discussed in the main article, two bands touch at kz = kz ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ 2 so there are two regimes, 0 < kz < kz and kz > kz , where kz (in normalized units) is determined by (kz ) = σ/(1+σ). We compute the Chern numbers Cn by integrating the Berry curvature in the k⊥ plane: 1 ∞ C = dk F (k ) = dk k F (k ), (8) n 2π ⊥ n ⊥ ⊥ ⊥ n ⊥ Z Z0 where the second equality follows because this problem is isotropic in the plane perpendicular to z. 8

TABLE I. Chern number computed by integrating the Berry curvature in the k plane without regularization, using the Hamiltonian of Eq. (3). ⊥

kz < kz∗ kz > kz∗

C4 −1 −1

C3 0 1 σ σ C2 1 + √ √ 1 + σ2 1 + σ2

C1 −1 −1

TABLE II. Same as TableI, but now regularization is adopted using the Hamiltonian of Eq. (6).

kz < kz∗ kz > kz∗

C4 −1 −1

C3 0 1

C2 2 1

C1 −1 −1

Without regularization, we find that C1, C3, and C4 (corresponding to frequency bands 1, 3, and 4) are integer- valued, and C2 (corresponding to band 2) is not an√ integer. For the special case kz = 0, the Berry curvature was 2 integrated by Hanson et al. (2016) to be C2 = 1 + σ/ 1 + σ . We find that this is in agreement with our numerical calculations for kz = 0 and also generalizes to nonzero kz. Our results from numerical integration are given in TableI. When we use regularization, we find that C2 is now an integer (as it should be due to the Chern theorem) and the other bands have been left unchanged. See TableII. The results are insensitive to the value of kc or p used in the regularization. E.g., we can use kc = 10 or kc = 1000 and obtain the same result. We have used p as large as 8 and as small as 0.1. The numerical integration becomes more challenging at small p because the Berry curvature decays −(1+p) slowly; we find numerically that at k⊥  kc, k⊥F (k⊥) ∼ k⊥ . Based on our results, where we have used p as small as 0.1, it appears that for any p > 0, the integral of the Berry curvature is an integer. Plots of the Berry curvature with and without regularization are shown in Figure4. 9

101 2 10− 5

) 10− ⊥

k 8 ( 10− F 11 10− with regularization 14 10− no regularization

2.0 ) 0 ⊥

k 1.5 ( F 0 ⊥

k 1.0 0 ⊥ dk ⊥

k 0.5 0 R 0.0 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 10− 10− 10 10 10 10 10 k ⊥

FIG. 4. Top: Berry curvature F (k ) for band 2, at σ = 0.5 and kz = 0.4, with and without regularization. Bottom: cumulative ⊥ integral of the Berry curvature, with the Chern integral C2 reproduced for k → ∞ as in Eq. (8). With regularization, the Berry curvature integrates to an integer, and without regularization it does⊥ not, in accordance with TablesI andII. The regularization parameters here are kc = 100 and p = 2.