Realization of a three-dimensional photonic topological insulator

Abstract

Confining photons in a finite volume is in high demand in modern photonic devices. This motivated decades ago the invention of photonic crystals, featured with a photonic bandgap forbidding light propagation in all directions. Recently, inspired by the discoveries of topological insulators (TIs), the confinement of photons with topological protection has been demonstrated in two-dimensional (2D) photonic structures known as photonic TIs, with promising applications in topological lasers and robust optical delay lines. However, a fully three-dimensional (3D) topological photonic bandgap has never before been achieved. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a 3D photonic TI with an extremely wide (> 25% bandwidth) 3D topological bandgap. The sample consists of split-ring resonators (SRRs) with strong magneto-electric coupling and behaves as a 'weak TI', or a stack of 2D quantum spin Hall insulators. Using direct field measurements, we map out both the gapped bulk bandstructure and the Dirac-like dispersion of the photonic surface states, and demonstrate robust photonic propagation along a non-planar surface. Our work extends the family of 3D TIs from fermions to bosons and paves the way for applications in topological photonic cavities, circuits, and lasers in 3D geometries.

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• A brief review of topological photonics in one, two, and three dimensions
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• Higher-order photonic topological states in surface-wave photonic crystals
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• Exceptional Topological Insulators
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• Amorphous photonic topological insulator
• Acoustic square-root topological insulators
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• Ideal Unconventional Weyl Point in a Chiral Photonic Metamaterial
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• Non-Hermitian higher-order topological superconductors in two-dimension: statics and dynamics
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• Transport study of the wormhole effect in three-dimensional topological insulators
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• Corner modes in non-Hermitian next-nearest-neighbor hopping model
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• $Z_2$ Dirac points with topologically protected multihelicoid surface states
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• Observation of nonlinear higher-order topological insulators with unconventional boundary truncations
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• Lithium Niobate Photonic Topological Insulator-based Multi-Wavelength Optical Demultiplexer with Piezoelectric Switch-Off