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Topological photonics

Abstract

The application of topology, the mathematics of conserved properties under continuous deformations, is creating a range of new opportunities throughout photonics. This field was inspired by the discovery of topological insulators, in which interfacial electrons transport without dissipation, even in the presence of impurities. Similarly, the use of carefully designed wavevector-space topologies allows the creation of interfaces that support new states of light with useful and interesting properties. In particular, this suggests unidirectional waveguides that allow light to flow around large imperfections without back-reflection. This Review explains the underlying principles and highlights how topological effects can be realized in photonic crystals, coupled resonators, metamaterials and quasicrystals.

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Figure 1: Topological phase transition.
Figure 2: Topological phase diagram of the 2D quantum Hall phase.
Figure 3: First experimental demonstration of the topologically protected one-way edge waveguide at microwave frequencies.
Figure 4: Quantum Hall phase of electrons in a magnetic field and of photons in coupled resonators exhibiting an effective magnetic field.
Figure 5: Phase diagram of line nodes and Weyl points in gyroid photonic crystals.

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Acknowledgements

L.L. thanks L. Fu, C. Wang and A. Khanikaev for discussions. The authors thank P. Rebusco and C.W. Hsu for critical reading and editing of the manuscript. J.J. was supported in part by the U.S.A.R.O. through the ISN, under contract W911NF-07-D-0004. L.L. was supported in part by the MRSEC Program of the NSF under award DMR-0819762. M.S. and L.L. were supported in part by the MIT S3TEC EFRC of DOE under grant DE-SC0001299.

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Lu, L., Joannopoulos, J. & Soljačić, M. Topological photonics. Nature Photon 8, 821–829 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2014.248

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