Topological bands in two-dimensional networks of metamaterial elements

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the emergence of topological frequency bands in 2D electromagnetic metamaterial lattices without magnetic fields, revealing one-way modes and exceptional points, and proposes a superconducting cavity network as a quantum Hall simulator.

Contribution

It introduces a new class of topological bands in 2D metamaterial networks and proposes a superconducting cavity lattice to simulate fractional quantum Hall physics.

Findings

Topological bands appear in 2D electromagnetic lattices without magnetic fields.

One-way guided modes and exceptional points are observed.

A superconducting cavity network is proposed as a quantum Hall simulator.

Abstract

We show that topological frequency band structures emerge in two-dimensional electromagnetic lattices of metamaterial components without the application of an external magnetic field. The topological nature of the band structure manifests itself by the occurrence of exceptional points in the band structure or by the emergence of one-way guided modes. Based on an EM network with nearly flat frequency bands of nontrivial topology, we propose a coupled-cavity lattice made of superconducting transmission lines and cavity QED components which is described by the Janes-Cummings-Hubbard model and can serve as simulator of the fractional quantum Hall effect.