Visualization of unidirectional optical waveguide using topological photonic crystals made of dielectric material

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a topological photonic crystal made of dielectric material that creates unidirectional, backscattering-immune optical channels, advancing robust light propagation for communication technologies.

Contribution

It introduces a dielectric topological photonic crystal with a honeycomb structure that supports pseudospin-dependent unidirectional light transport, a novel design in optical topological systems.

Findings

Realization of a dielectric topological photonic crystal with double Dirac cone

Creation of pseudospin-dependent unidirectional optical channels

Demonstration of backscattering immune electromagnetic transport

Abstract

The introduction of topology unravels a new chapter of physics. Topological systems provide unique edge/interfacial quantum states which are expected to contribute to the development of novel spintronics and open the door to robust quantum computation. Optical systems can also benefit from topology. Engineering locally in real space a honeycomb photonic crystal with double Dirac cone in its photonic dispersion, topology transition in photonic band structure is induced and a pseudospin unidirectional optical channel is created and demonstrated by the backscattering immune electromagnetic transportation. The topological photonic crystal made of dielectric material can pave the road towards steering light propagations and contribute to novel communication technology.