Observation of Phase Controllable Majorana-like Bound States in Metamaterial-based Kitaev Chain Analogues

We experimentally demonstrate that Majorana-like bound states (MLBSs) can occur in quasi-one-dimensional metamaterials, analogous to Majorana zero modes (MZM) in the Kitaev chain. In a mechanical spinner ladder system, we observe a topological phase transition and spectral-gap-protected edge MLBSs. We characterize the decaying and oscillatory nature of these MLBS pairs and their phase-dependent hybridization. It is shown that the hybridization can be tuned to yield the analogue of parity switching in MZMs, a key element of topological qubits. We find strong agreements with theory.