Observation of topological edge modes in bianisotropic metamaterials

TL;DR

This paper reports the first experimental realization of a topological insulator for electromagnetic waves using engineered bianisotropic metamaterials, demonstrating robust wave propagation around sharp corners without back reflection.

Contribution

It introduces a novel topological insulator for electromagnetic waves based on bianisotropic metamaterials and provides experimental evidence of topologically protected wave propagation.

Findings

Robust electromagnetic edge modes observed experimentally.

Wave propagation around sharp corners without back reflection.

First demonstration of topological insulator in electromagnetic metamaterials.

Abstract

Existence of robust edge modes at interfaces of topologically dissimilar systems is one of the most fascinating manifestations of a novel nontrivial state of matter, topological insulators. Such electronic states were originally predicted and discovered in condensed matter physics, but they find their counterparts in other fields of physics, including the physics of classical waves and electromagnetics. Here, we present the first experimental realization of a topological insulator for electromagnetic waves based on engineered bianisotropic metamaterials. By employing the near-field scanning technique, we demonstrate experimentally the topologically robust propagation of electromagnetic waves around sharp corners without back reflection.