Topological Polaritons in a Quantum Spin Hall Cavity

Abstract

We study the topological structure of matter-light excitations, so called polaritons, in a quantum spin Hall insulator coupled to photonic cavity modes. We identify a topological invariant in the presence of time reversal (TR) symmetry, and demonstrate the existence of a TR-invariant topological phase. We find protected helical edge states with energies below the lower polariton branch and characteristic uncoupled excitonic states, both detectable by optical techniques. Applying a Zeeman field allows us to relate the topological index to the double coverage of the Bloch sphere by the polaritonic pseudospin.

5 pages + 4 pages supplemental material, 3 figures

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Exploring nonlinear topological states of matter with exciton-polaritons: Edge solitons in kagome lattice
• Non-Hermitian Topological End-Mode Lasing in Polariton Systems
• Kagome Lattice from Exciton-Polariton Perspective
• Observation of room temperature excitons in an atomically thin topological insulator
• Exciton-Polariton Topological Insulator with an Array of Magnetic Dots
• Coherent transfer of topological domain walls
• Topological Edge Solitons in Polaritonic Lattice