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Observation of unidirectional backscattering-immune topological electromagnetic states

Author

Listed:
  • Zheng Wang

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA)

  • Yidong Chong

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
    Present address: Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.)

  • J. D. Joannopoulos

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA)

  • Marin Soljačić

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA)

Abstract

A one-way street for electromagnetic waves A hallmark of the quantum Hall effect, and a consequence of nontrivial topology of the electronic properties of systems manifesting this phenomenon, is the existence of so-called chiral edge states. These are a class of unique electronic states through which two-dimensional electron systems subject to a large magnetic field propagate in a unidirectional fashion, essentially unimpeded by scattering. Recent theoretical studies predicted that analogues to such electron 'one-way' edge modes could be realized for electromagnetic waves in photonic crystals, materials with periodic variations of the refractive index. Zheng Wang and colleagues now experimentally realize such photonic chiral edge states in a designed magneto-optical photonic crystal and demonstrate their unidirectional and scattering-protected nature. The finding of such photonic chiral edge states may enable new classes of photonic devices as well as new experimental realizations of the quantum Hall phenomenon in classical and bosonic systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Zheng Wang & Yidong Chong & J. D. Joannopoulos & Marin Soljačić, 2009. "Observation of unidirectional backscattering-immune topological electromagnetic states," Nature, Nature, vol. 461(7265), pages 772-775, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:461:y:2009:i:7265:d:10.1038_nature08293
    DOI: 10.1038/nature08293
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    Cited by:

    1. Xiao-Chen Sun & Hao Chen & Hua-Shan Lai & Chu-Hao Xia & Cheng He & Yan-Feng Chen, 2023. "Ideal acoustic quantum spin Hall phase in a multi-topology platform," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Lizhen Lu & Kun Ding & Emanuele Galiffi & Xikui Ma & Tianyu Dong & J. B. Pendry, 2021. "Revealing topology with transformation optics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-7, December.
    3. Biye Xie & Renwen Huang & Shiyin Jia & Zemeng Lin & Junzheng Hu & Yao Jiang & Shaojie Ma & Peng Zhan & Minghui Lu & Zhenlin Wang & Yanfeng Chen & Shuang Zhang, 2023. "Bulk-local-density-of-state correspondence in topological insulators," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Alexander B. Khanikaev & Andrea Alù, 2024. "Topological photonics: robustness and beyond," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-3, December.
    5. Qiaolu Chen & Zhe Zhang & Haoye Qin & Aleksi Bossart & Yihao Yang & Hongsheng Chen & Romain Fleury, 2024. "Anomalous and Chern topological waves in hyperbolic networks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    6. Cuicui Lu & Yi-Zhi Sun & Chenyang Wang & Hongyu Zhang & Wen Zhao & Xiaoyong Hu & Meng Xiao & Wei Ding & Yong-Chun Liu & C. T. Chan, 2022. "On-chip nanophotonic topological rainbow," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
    7. Song Han & Yunda Chua & Yongquan Zeng & Bofeng Zhu & Chongwu Wang & Bo Qiang & Yuhao Jin & Qian Wang & Lianhe Li & Alexander Giles Davies & Edmund Harold Linfield & Yidong Chong & Baile Zhang & Qi Jie, 2023. "Photonic Majorana quantum cascade laser with polarization-winding emission," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    8. Byoung-Uk Sohn & Yue-Xin Huang & Ju Won Choi & George F. R. Chen & Doris K. T. Ng & Shengyuan A. Yang & Dawn T. H. Tan, 2022. "A topological nonlinear parametric amplifier," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    9. Ren, Boquan & Kartashov, Yaroslav V. & Wang, Hongguang & Li, Yongdong & Zhang, Yiqi, 2023. "Floquet topological insulators with hybrid edges," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    10. Jing Yang & Yuanzhen Li & Yumeng Yang & Xinrong Xie & Zijian Zhang & Jiale Yuan & Han Cai & Da-Wei Wang & Fei Gao, 2024. "Realization of all-band-flat photonic lattices," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    11. Xiang Xi & Bei Yan & Linyun Yang & Yan Meng & Zhen-Xiao Zhu & Jing-Ming Chen & Ziyao Wang & Peiheng Zhou & Perry Ping Shum & Yihao Yang & Hongsheng Chen & Subhaskar Mandal & Gui-Geng Liu & Baile Zhang, 2023. "Topological antichiral surface states in a magnetic Weyl photonic crystal," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    12. Yanan Wang & Hai-Xiao Wang & Li Liang & Weiwei Zhu & Longzhen Fan & Zhi-Kang Lin & Feifei Li & Xiao Zhang & Pi-Gang Luan & Yin Poo & Jian-Hua Jiang & Guang-Yu Guo, 2023. "Hybrid topological photonic crystals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    13. Ji-Qian Wang & Zi-Dong Zhang & Si-Yuan Yu & Hao Ge & Kang-Fu Liu & Tao Wu & Xiao-Chen Sun & Le Liu & Hua-Yang Chen & Cheng He & Ming-Hui Lu & Yan-Feng Chen, 2022. "Extended topological valley-locked surface acoustic waves," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    14. Yumeng Yang & Xinrong Xie & Yuanzhen Li & Zijian Zhang & Yiwei Peng & Chi Wang & Erping Li & Ying Li & Hongsheng Chen & Fei Gao, 2022. "Radiative anti-parity-time plasmonics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    15. Mehmet Berkay On & Farshid Ashtiani & David Sanchez-Jacome & Daniel Perez-Lopez & S. J. Ben Yoo & Andrea Blanco-Redondo, 2024. "Programmable integrated photonics for topological Hamiltonians," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    16. Xing-Xiang Wang & Zhiwei Guo & Juan Song & Haitao Jiang & Hong Chen & Xiao Hu, 2023. "Unique Huygens-Fresnel electromagnetic transportation of chiral Dirac wavelet in topological photonic crystal," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    17. Anton Vakulenko & Svetlana Kiriushechkina & Daria Smirnova & Sriram Guddala & Filipp Komissarenko & Andrea Alù & Monica Allen & Jeffery Allen & Alexander B. Khanikaev, 2023. "Adiabatic topological photonic interfaces," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    18. Lei Huang & Lu He & Weixuan Zhang & Huizhen Zhang & Dongning Liu & Xue Feng & Fang Liu & Kaiyu Cui & Yidong Huang & Wei Zhang & Xiangdong Zhang, 2024. "Hyperbolic photonic topological insulators," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    19. Weixuan Zhang & Fengxiao Di & Xingen Zheng & Houjun Sun & Xiangdong Zhang, 2023. "Hyperbolic band topology with non-trivial second Chern numbers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    20. Pawel S. Jung & Georgios G. Pyrialakos & Fan O. Wu & Midya Parto & Mercedeh Khajavikhan & Wieslaw Krolikowski & Demetrios N. Christodoulides, 2022. "Thermal control of the topological edge flow in nonlinear photonic lattices," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
    21. Xiaobin Dai & Xuanyu Zhang & Lijuan Gao & Ziyang Xu & Li-Tang Yan, 2022. "Topology mediates transport of nanoparticles in macromolecular networks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.

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