All-optical control of the photonic Hall lattice in a pumped waveguide array

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates an all-optical method to simulate quantum Hall effects in a photonic waveguide array by creating an artificial magnetic field in the frequency domain, enabling topologically protected light manipulation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel all-optical approach using pump-probe configurations and cross-phase modulation to realize topological edge states in a one-dimensional waveguide array.

Findings

Successful simulation of quantum Hall edge states in photonics

Analysis of pump field crosstalk effects on topological states

Potential for light manipulation in waveguide systems

Abstract

Quantum Hall system possesses topologically protected edge states which have enormous theoretical and practical implications in both fermionic and bosonic systems. Harnessing the quantum Hall effect in optical platforms with lower dimensionality is highly desirable with synthetic dimensions and has attracted broad interests in the photonics society. Here, we introduce an alternative way to realize the artificial magnetic field in a frequency dimension, which is achieved in a pump-probe configuration with cross-phase modulations in a one-dimensional four waveguide array. The dynamics of the topological chiral edge state has been studied and the influence from the crosstalk of the pump fields has been explored. Our work shows an all-optical way to simulate the quantum Hall system in a photonic system and holds potential applications in manipulating light in waveguide systems.