Floquet Second-Order Topological Phases in Momentum Space

Higher-order topological phases (HOTPs) are characterized by symmetry-protected bound states at the corners or hinges of the system. In this work, we reveal a momentum-space counterpart of HOTPs in time-periodic driven systems, which are demonstrated in a two-dimensional extension of the quantum double-kicked rotor. The found Floquet HOTPs are protected by chiral symmetry and characterized by a pair of topological invariants, which could take arbitrarily large integer values with the increase of kicking strengths. These topological numbers are shown to be measurable from the chiral dynamics of wave packets. Under open boundary conditions, multiple quartets Floquet corner modes with zero and $\pi$ quasienergies emerge in the system and coexist with delocalized bulk states at the same quasienergies, forming second-order Floquet topological bound states in the continuum. The number of these corner modes is further counted by the bulk topological invariants according to the relation of bulk-corner correspondence. Our findings thus extend the study of HOTPs to momentum-space lattices and further uncover the richness of HOTPs and corner-localized bound states in continuum in Floquet systems.