Topological slow light via coupling chiral edge modes with flat bands

TL;DR

This paper proposes a simple method to achieve broadband topological slow light by coupling chiral edge modes with flat bands, avoiding extensive modifications to the lattice, demonstrated through numerical simulations of a gyromagnetic photonic crystal.

Contribution

It introduces a novel scheme to realize broadband topological slow light by coupling edge modes with flat bands without large lattice modifications.

Findings

Numerical demonstration in a gyromagnetic photonic crystal.

Achieves broadband slow light with ultra-low group velocity.

No extensive lattice modifications needed.

Abstract

Chiral edge modes in photonic topological insulators host great potential to realize slow-light waveguides with topological protection. Increasing the winding of the chiral edge mode around the Brillouin zone can lead to broadband topological slow light with ultra-low group velocity. However, this effect usually requires careful modifications on a relatively large area around the lattice edge. Here we present a simple and general scheme to achieve broadband topological slow light through coupling the chiral edge modes with flat bands. In this approach, modifications inside the topological lattice are not required. Instead, only several additional resonators that support the flat bands need to be attached at the lattice edge. We demonstrate our idea numerically using a gyromagnetic photonic crystal, which is ready to be tested at microwave frequencies.