Towards Floquet Chern insulators of light

IF 34.9 1区材料科学 Q1 MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Nature nanotechnology Pub Date : 2025-09-05 DOI:10.1038/s41565-025-02003-1

Jicheng Jin, Li He, Jian Lu, Lin Chang, Chen Shang, John E. Bowers, Eugene J. Mele, Bo Zhen

{"title":"Towards Floquet Chern insulators of light","authors":"Jicheng Jin, Li He, Jian Lu, Lin Chang, Chen Shang, John E. Bowers, Eugene J. Mele, Bo Zhen","doi":"10.1038/s41565-025-02003-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Topological photonics explores photonic systems that exhibit robustness against defects and disorder, enabled by protection from underlying topological phases. These phases are typically realized in linear optical systems and characterized by their intrinsic photonic band structures. Here we experimentally study Floquet Chern insulators in periodically driven nonlinear photonic crystals, where the topological phase is controlled by the polarization and the frequency of the driving field. Our transient sum-frequency generation measurements reveal strong hybridization of the Floquet photonic bands. The measured spectrum remains gapless under a linearly polarized drive but becomes gapped under a circularly polarized drive. Theoretical analysis confirms that the Floquet gap is topological, characterized by a non-zero Chern number—a consequence of time-reversal symmetry breaking induced by the circularly polarized driving field. This work offers opportunities to explore the role of classical optical nonlinearity in topological phases and their applications in nonlinear optoelectronics.</p>","PeriodicalId":18915,"journal":{"name":"Nature nanotechnology","volume":"104 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":34.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature nanotechnology","FirstCategoryId":"88","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-02003-1","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Topological photonics explores photonic systems that exhibit robustness against defects and disorder, enabled by protection from underlying topological phases. These phases are typically realized in linear optical systems and characterized by their intrinsic photonic band structures. Here we experimentally study Floquet Chern insulators in periodically driven nonlinear photonic crystals, where the topological phase is controlled by the polarization and the frequency of the driving field. Our transient sum-frequency generation measurements reveal strong hybridization of the Floquet photonic bands. The measured spectrum remains gapless under a linearly polarized drive but becomes gapped under a circularly polarized drive. Theoretical analysis confirms that the Floquet gap is topological, characterized by a non-zero Chern number—a consequence of time-reversal symmetry breaking induced by the circularly polarized driving field. This work offers opportunities to explore the role of classical optical nonlinearity in topological phases and their applications in nonlinear optoelectronics.

Abstract Image

查看原文本刊更多论文

朝Floquet Chern绝缘体的光

拓扑光子学研究的光子系统表现出对缺陷和无序的鲁棒性，通过保护底层拓扑相来实现。这些相位通常在线性光学系统中实现，并以其固有的光子带结构为特征。本文对周期驱动非线性光子晶体中的Floquet chen绝缘子进行了实验研究，其中拓扑相位由驱动场的极化和频率控制。我们的瞬态和频率产生测量揭示了Floquet光子带的强杂化。测量光谱在线偏振驱动下保持无间隙，但在圆偏振驱动下变为间隙。理论分析证实了Floquet隙是拓扑的，其特征是非零陈恩数，这是由圆极化驱动场引起的时间反转对称性破缺的结果。这项工作为探索经典光学非线性在拓扑相位中的作用及其在非线性光电子学中的应用提供了机会。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Nature nanotechnology 工程技术-材料科学：综合

CiteScore

59.70

自引率

0.80%

发文量

196

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Nature Nanotechnology is a prestigious journal that publishes high-quality papers in various areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The journal focuses on the design, characterization, and production of structures, devices, and systems that manipulate and control materials at atomic, molecular, and macromolecular scales. It encompasses both bottom-up and top-down approaches, as well as their combinations. Furthermore, Nature Nanotechnology fosters the exchange of ideas among researchers from diverse disciplines such as chemistry, physics, material science, biomedical research, engineering, and more. It promotes collaboration at the forefront of this multidisciplinary field. The journal covers a wide range of topics, from fundamental research in physics, chemistry, and biology, including computational work and simulations, to the development of innovative devices and technologies for various industrial sectors such as information technology, medicine, manufacturing, high-performance materials, energy, and environmental technologies. It includes coverage of organic, inorganic, and hybrid materials.