Topological Gaseous Plasmon Polariton in Realistic Plasma

Nontrivial topology in bulk matter has been linked with the existence of topologically protected interfacial states. We show that a gaseous plasmon polariton (GPP), an electromagnetic surface wave existing at the boundary of magnetized plasma and vacuum, has a topological origin that arises from the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2020-05, Vol.124 (19), p.195001-195001, Article 195001
Main Authors: Parker, Jeffrey B, Marston, J B, Tobias, Steven M, Zhu, Ziyan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
Density
Electromagnetic surface waves
Electromagnetic waves & oscillations
Plasma
plasma waves
Plasmas (physics)
Polaritons
Surface waves
topological phases of matter
Topology
Wave physics
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Summary:Nontrivial topology in bulk matter has been linked with the existence of topologically protected interfacial states. We show that a gaseous plasmon polariton (GPP), an electromagnetic surface wave existing at the boundary of magnetized plasma and vacuum, has a topological origin that arises from the nontrivial topology of magnetized plasma. Because a gaseous plasma cannot sustain a sharp interface with discontinuous density, one must consider a gradual density falloff with scale length comparable to or longer than the wavelength of the wave. We show that the GPP may be found within a gapped spectrum in present-day laboratory devices, suggesting that platforms are currently available for experimental investigation of topological wave physics in plasmas.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.195001