Photonic bilayer Chern insulator with corner states

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Mandal, Subhaskar, Wang, Ziyao, Banerjee, Rimi, Teo, Hau Tian, Zhou, Peiheng, Xi, Xiang, Gao, Zhen, Liu, Gui-Geng, Zhang, Baile
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Mandal, Subhaskar
Wang, Ziyao
Banerjee, Rimi
Teo, Hau Tian
Zhou, Peiheng
Xi, Xiang
Gao, Zhen
Liu, Gui-Geng
Zhang, Baile
author_facet Mandal, Subhaskar
Wang, Ziyao
Banerjee, Rimi
Teo, Hau Tian
Zhou, Peiheng
Xi, Xiang
Gao, Zhen
Liu, Gui-Geng
Zhang, Baile
contents Photonic Chern insulators can be implemented in gyromagnetic photonic crystals with broken time-reversal (TR) symmetry. They exhibit gapless chiral edge states (CESs), enabling unidirectional propagation and demonstrating exceptional resilience to localization even in the presence of defects or disorders. However, when two Chern insulators with opposite Chern numbers are stacked together, this one-way nature can be nullified, causing the originally gapless CESs to become gapped. Recent theoretical works have proposed achieving such a topological phase transition in condensed matter systems using antiferromagnetic thin films such as MnBi2Te4 or by coupling two quantum spin/anomalous Hall insulators, but these approaches have yet to be realized experimentally. In a bilayer gyromagnetic photonic crystal arranged in an antiferromagnetic layer configuration, our experimental observations reveal that interlayer coupling initiates a transition from a Chern insulating phase to a higher-order topological phase. This transition results in the gapping of CESs and triggers the emergence of corner states within the bandgap. The corner mode energy within the gap can be attributed to CESs interaction, forming a Jackiw-Rebbi topological domain wall mode at the corner. These states exhibit heightened resilience against defects, setting them apart from their time-reversal symmetric counterparts.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2405_19267
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Photonic bilayer Chern insulator with corner states
Mandal, Subhaskar
Wang, Ziyao
Banerjee, Rimi
Teo, Hau Tian
Zhou, Peiheng
Xi, Xiang
Gao, Zhen
Liu, Gui-Geng
Zhang, Baile
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Photonic Chern insulators can be implemented in gyromagnetic photonic crystals with broken time-reversal (TR) symmetry. They exhibit gapless chiral edge states (CESs), enabling unidirectional propagation and demonstrating exceptional resilience to localization even in the presence of defects or disorders. However, when two Chern insulators with opposite Chern numbers are stacked together, this one-way nature can be nullified, causing the originally gapless CESs to become gapped. Recent theoretical works have proposed achieving such a topological phase transition in condensed matter systems using antiferromagnetic thin films such as MnBi2Te4 or by coupling two quantum spin/anomalous Hall insulators, but these approaches have yet to be realized experimentally. In a bilayer gyromagnetic photonic crystal arranged in an antiferromagnetic layer configuration, our experimental observations reveal that interlayer coupling initiates a transition from a Chern insulating phase to a higher-order topological phase. This transition results in the gapping of CESs and triggers the emergence of corner states within the bandgap. The corner mode energy within the gap can be attributed to CESs interaction, forming a Jackiw-Rebbi topological domain wall mode at the corner. These states exhibit heightened resilience against defects, setting them apart from their time-reversal symmetric counterparts.
title Photonic bilayer Chern insulator with corner states
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.19267