Mann Sander A, Alù Andrea
Photonics Initiative, Advanced Science Research Center, City University of New York, New York, New York 10031, USA.
Department of Electrical Engineering, City College of The City University of New York, New York, New York 10031, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2021 Sep 17;127(12):123601. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.123601.
Topological photonic insulators have attracted significant attention for their robust transport of light, impervious to scattering and disorder. This feature is ideally suited for slow light applications, which are typically limited by disorder-induced attenuation. However, no practical approach to broadband topologically protected slow light has been demonstrated yet. In this work, we achieve slow light in topologically unidirectional waveguides based on periodically loading an edge termination with suitably tailored resonances. The resulting edge state dispersion can wind around the Brillouin zone multiple times sustaining broadband, topologically robust slow light, opening exciting opportunities in various photonic scenarios.
拓扑光子绝缘体因其对光的稳健传输而备受关注，这种传输不受散射和无序的影响。这一特性非常适合慢光应用，而慢光应用通常受无序诱导衰减的限制。然而，目前尚未证明有任何实用的方法来实现宽带拓扑保护慢光。在这项工作中，我们通过周期性地在边缘端加载适当定制的共振，在拓扑单向波导中实现了慢光。由此产生的边缘态色散可以多次环绕布里渊区，维持宽带、拓扑稳健的慢光，为各种光子学场景带来了令人兴奋的机会。
