Topological Anderson phase in quasi-periodic waveguide lattices

The topological trivial band of a lattice can be driven into a topological phase by disorder in the system. This socalled topological Anderson phase has been predicted and observed for uncorrelated static disorder, while in the presence of correlated disorder, conflicting results are found. Here we consider a Su-Schrieffer-Heeger waveguide lattice in the trivial topological phase and show that quasi-periodic disorder in the coupling constants can drive the lattice into a topological nontrivial phase. A method to detect the emergence of the topological Anderson phase, based on light dynamics at the edge of a quasi-periodic waveguide lattice, is suggested.