Photonic simulation of topological excitations in metamaterials

Abstract

Condensed matter systems with topological order and metamaterials with left-handed chirality have attracted recently extensive interests in the fields of physics and optics. So far the two fields are independent, and there is no work to address their connection. Here we propose to establish the relation between the topological order in condensed matter systems and the chirality in metamaterials, by mapping explicitly Maxwell's equations to the Dirac equation in one dimension. We report an experimental implement of the band inversion in the Dirac equation, which accompanies change of chirality of electromagnetic wave in metamaterials, and the first microwave measurement of topological excitations and topological phases in one dimension. Our finding provides a proof-of-principle example that electromagnetic wave in the metamaterials can be used to simulate the topological order in condensed matter systems and quantum phenomena in relativistic quantum mechanics in a controlled laboratory environment.

18 pages, 3 figures

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• Photonic Analogue of Two-dimensional Topological Insulators and Helical One-Way Edge Transport in Bi-Anisotropic Metamaterials
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• Topological Photonics
• Topological Photonics
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• Topological photonic crystals: physics, designs and applications
• Unconventional quantum optics in topological waveguide QED
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• Measurement of the Zak phase of photonic bands through the interface states of metasurface/photonic crystal
• Guiding waves along an infinitesimal line between impedance surfaces
• Photonic Spin Hall Effect in Waveguides Composed of Two Types of Single-Negative Metamaterials
• Experimental demonstration of the robust end state in a split-ring-resonator chain
• Zak phase and band inversion in dimerized one-dimensional locally resonant metamaterials
• Topological acoustics in coupled nanocavity arrays
• Controllable double quantum state transfers by one topological channel in a frequency-modulated optomechanical array
• Photonic Jackiw-Rebbi states in all-dielectric structures controlled by bianisotropy
• Topological phases, topological flat bands, and topological excitations in a one-dimensional dimerized lattice with spin-orbit coupling
• Transverse angular momentum in topological photonic crystals
• Indifferent electromagnetic modes: bound states and topology
• Wannier Function Methods for Topological Modes in 1D Photonic Crystals
• Simulation of Zitterbewegung by modelling the Dirac equation in Metamaterials
• Dimensional evolution between one- and two-dimensional topological phases
• Prediction of interface states in liquid surface waves with one-dimensional modulation
• Implications of Kleinian relativity
• Spontaneously-Induced Dirac Boundary State and Digitization in a Nonlinear Resonator Chain
• Observation of photonic spin-momentum locking due to coupling of achiral metamaterials and quantum dots
• Collective dynamics and entanglement of two atoms embedded into negative index material
• Robust qubit interactions mediated by photonic topological edge states
• Dual solutions Schrödinger type for Poisson equation in dielectric and magnetic linear media
• Topological boundary states in engineered quantum-dot molecules on the InAs(111)A surface