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Imaging topological edge states in silicon photonics
Published
Author(s)
Mohammad Hafezi, Jingyun Fan, Alan L. Migdall, Jacob M. Taylor
Abstract
Systems with topological oder exhibit exotic phenomena including fractional statistics. While most systems with topological order have been electronic, advances in our understanding of synthetic gauge fields have enabled realization of topological order in cold atoms or even with photons. Here, we demonstrate the experimental realization of synthetic magnetic fields for infrared photons at room temperature. Our implementation corresponds to a synthetic spin orbit Hamiltonian, which requires linear optics does not break time reversal symmetry. As a direct proof of topological order, we observe for the first time, edge states for light in a two-dimensional system. This realization in principle allows investigation of wide topological order in photonics system by entering non-interacting and many-body regime.
Hafezi, M.
, Fan, J.
, Migdall, A.
and Taylor, J.
(2013),
Imaging topological edge states in silicon photonics, Nature Photonics, [online], https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.20
(Accessed October 1, 2025)