Towards Floquet Chern insulators of light

Jin, Jicheng; He, Li; Lu, Jian; Chang, Lin; Shang, Chen; Bowers, John E.; Mele, Eugene J.; Zhen, Bo

doi:10.1038/s41565-025-02003-1

Towards Floquet Chern insulators of light

Journal Article · Fri Sep 05 04:00:00 EDT 2025 · Nature Nanotechnology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-02003-1· OSTI ID:2869340

^[1]; He, Li ^[2]; Lu, Jian ^[3]; Chang, Lin ^[4]; Shang, Chen ^[4]; ^[4]; ^[1]; ^[1]

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States); Montana State University, Bozeman, MT (United States)
Cymer Inc., San Diego, CA (United States); University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)
University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)

Topological photonics explores photonic systems that exhibit robustness against defects and disorder, enabled by protection from underlying topological phases. These phases are typically realized in linear optical systems and characterized by their intrinsic photonic band structures. Here we experimentally study Floquet Chern insulators in periodically driven nonlinear photonic crystals, where the topological phase is controlled by the polarization and the frequency of the driving field. Our transient sum-frequency generation measurements reveal strong hybridization of the Floquet photonic bands. The measured spectrum remains gapless under a linearly polarized drive but becomes gapped under a circularly polarized drive. Theoretical analysis confirms that the Floquet gap is topological, characterized by a non-zero Chern number—a consequence of time-reversal symmetry breaking induced by the circularly polarized driving field. Furthermore, this work offers opportunities to explore the role of classical optical nonlinearity in topological phases and their applications in nonlinear optoelectronics.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; US Office of Naval Research (ONR); Army Research Office; DARPA; NSF National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure Program

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-84ER45118

OSTI ID:: 2869340

Journal Information:: Nature Nanotechnology, Journal Name: Nature Nanotechnology; ISSN 1748-3387; ISSN 1748-3395

Publisher:: Springer Science and Business Media LLCCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United Kingdom

Language:: English

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