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Title: Floquet Chern insulators of light

Abstract

Achieving topologically-protected robust transport in optical systems has recently been of great interest. Most studied topological photonic structures can be understood by solving the eigenvalue problem of Maxwell’s equations for static linear systems. Here, we extend topological phases into dynamically driven systems and achieve a Floquet Chern insulator of light in nonlinear photonic crystals (PhCs). Specifically, we start by presenting the Floquet eigenvalue problem in driven two-dimensional PhCs. We then define topological invariant associated with Floquet bands, and show that topological band gaps with non-zero Chern number can be opened by breaking time-reversal symmetry through the driving field. Finally, we numerically demonstrate the existence of chiral edge states at the interfaces between a Floquet Chern insulator and normal insulators, where the transport is non-reciprocal and uni-directional. Our work paves the way to further exploring topological phases in driven optical systems and their optoelectronic applications.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Mathematics
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1624194
Grant/Contract Number:  
FG02-00ER41132
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Communications
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 10; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; Science & Technology - Other Topics

Citation Formats

He, Li, Addison, Zachariah, Jin, Jicheng, Mele, Eugene J., Johnson, Steven G., and Zhen, Bo. Floquet Chern insulators of light. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12231-4.
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He, Li, Addison, Zachariah, Jin, Jicheng, Mele, Eugene J., Johnson, Steven G., & Zhen, Bo. Floquet Chern insulators of light. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12231-4
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He, Li, Addison, Zachariah, Jin, Jicheng, Mele, Eugene J., Johnson, Steven G., and Zhen, Bo. Fri . "Floquet Chern insulators of light". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12231-4. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1624194.
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@article{osti_1624194,
title = {Floquet Chern insulators of light},
author = {He, Li and Addison, Zachariah and Jin, Jicheng and Mele, Eugene J. and Johnson, Steven G. and Zhen, Bo},
abstractNote = {Achieving topologically-protected robust transport in optical systems has recently been of great interest. Most studied topological photonic structures can be understood by solving the eigenvalue problem of Maxwell’s equations for static linear systems. Here, we extend topological phases into dynamically driven systems and achieve a Floquet Chern insulator of light in nonlinear photonic crystals (PhCs). Specifically, we start by presenting the Floquet eigenvalue problem in driven two-dimensional PhCs. We then define topological invariant associated with Floquet bands, and show that topological band gaps with non-zero Chern number can be opened by breaking time-reversal symmetry through the driving field. Finally, we numerically demonstrate the existence of chiral edge states at the interfaces between a Floquet Chern insulator and normal insulators, where the transport is non-reciprocal and uni-directional. Our work paves the way to further exploring topological phases in driven optical systems and their optoelectronic applications.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-019-12231-4},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = 1,
volume = 10,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {9}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12231-4
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Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1 Fig. 1: Floquet bands and gaps in a periodically driven nonlinear photonic crystal. a Schematic of a nonlinear photonic crystal (PhC) placed in a monochromatic driving field Ed at frequency Ω. b Due to the periodic drive, static bands of the PhC (solid lines) create copies of themselves—Floquet bands (dashedmore » lines)—by shifting up or down in the spectrum. c Two of the Floquet bands |1, m= 0〉 and |2, m=−1〉 cross at ±k1. Their coupling term V21 opens a new gap Eg—Floquet gap—and its size is linearly proportional to the magnitude of their coupling strength |V21| under weak drive« less
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Broadband Nonreciprocal Amplification in Luminal Metamaterials
    journal, November 2019

    Fresnel drag in space–time-modulated metamaterials
    journal, November 2019

    • Huidobro, Paloma A.; Galiffi, Emanuele; Guenneau, Sébastien
    • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 116, Issue 50
    • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1915027116

    Broadband Nonreciprocal Amplification in Luminal Metamaterials
    text, January 2019

    Fresnel drag in space-time modulated metamaterials
    text, January 2019

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