Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2024
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.13064 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1866910705882497024 |
|---|---|
| author | Roberts, Nathan Salter, Brook Binysh, Jack Mosley, Peter J. Souslov, Anton |
| author_facet | Roberts, Nathan Salter, Brook Binysh, Jack Mosley, Peter J. Souslov, Anton |
| contents | The breaking and enforcing of symmetries is a crucial ingredient in designing topologically robust materials. While magnetic fields can break time-reversal symmetry to create Chern insulators in electronic and microwave systems, at optical frequencies natural materials cannot respond to magnetic fields, which presents a challenge for the scalable exploitation of topologically enhanced devices. Here, we leverage the natural geometry of fibre to build a scalable photonic Chern insulator by twisting the fibre during fabrication. The twist inside optical fibre breaks an effective time-reversal symmetry and induces a pseudo-magnetic field, which we observe via photonic Landau levels. Unavoidably, this twist introduces a competing topology-destroying effect through a parabolic profile in the effective refractive index. Using simulations to guide experimental materials design, we discover the Goldilocks regime where the real-space Chern invariant survives, guaranteeing topological protection against fabrication-induced disorder of any symmetry class. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_13064 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Twisted fibre: a photonic topological insulator Roberts, Nathan Salter, Brook Binysh, Jack Mosley, Peter J. Souslov, Anton Optics The breaking and enforcing of symmetries is a crucial ingredient in designing topologically robust materials. While magnetic fields can break time-reversal symmetry to create Chern insulators in electronic and microwave systems, at optical frequencies natural materials cannot respond to magnetic fields, which presents a challenge for the scalable exploitation of topologically enhanced devices. Here, we leverage the natural geometry of fibre to build a scalable photonic Chern insulator by twisting the fibre during fabrication. The twist inside optical fibre breaks an effective time-reversal symmetry and induces a pseudo-magnetic field, which we observe via photonic Landau levels. Unavoidably, this twist introduces a competing topology-destroying effect through a parabolic profile in the effective refractive index. Using simulations to guide experimental materials design, we discover the Goldilocks regime where the real-space Chern invariant survives, guaranteeing topological protection against fabrication-induced disorder of any symmetry class. |
| title | Twisted fibre: a photonic topological insulator |
| topic | Optics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.13064 |