Robust reconfigurable electromagnetic pathways within a photonic topological insulator

The discovery of topological photonic states has revolutionized our understanding of electromagnetic propagation and scattering. Endowed with topological robustness, photonic edge modes are not reflected from structural imperfections and disordered regions. Here we demonstrate robust propagation alo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature materials 2016-05, Vol.15 (5), p.542-548
Main Authors: Cheng, Xiaojun, Jouvaud, Camille, Ni, Xiang, Mousavi, S. Hossein, Genack, Azriel Z., Khanikaev, Alexander B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/1019/1015
639/624/399/1015
639/766/1130
Biomaterials
Condensed Matter Physics
Electromagnetic radiation
Electromagnetics
Gages
Gauges
Insulation
Insulators
Materials Science
Microwave radiation
Microwaves
Nanotechnology
Optical and Electronic Materials
Pathways
Photonics
Robustness
Topology
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Summary:The discovery of topological photonic states has revolutionized our understanding of electromagnetic propagation and scattering. Endowed with topological robustness, photonic edge modes are not reflected from structural imperfections and disordered regions. Here we demonstrate robust propagation along reconfigurable pathways defined by synthetic gauge fields within a topological photonic metacrystal. The flow of microwave radiation in helical edge modes following arbitrary contours of the synthetic gauge field between bianisotropic metacrystal domains is unimpeded. This is demonstrated in measurements of the spectrum of transmission and time delay along the topological domain walls. These results provide a framework for freely steering electromagnetic radiation within photonic structures. Topologically protected states at the interface of magnetic domain walls in a parallel plate waveguide with adjustable rods, are shown to be directed along different paths, as the waveguide geometry changes.
ISSN:1476-1122
1476-4660
DOI:10.1038/nmat4573