Valley photonic crystals for control of spin and topology

Nat Mater. 2017 Mar;16(3):298-302. doi: 10.1038/nmat4807. Epub 2016 Nov 28.

Abstract

Photonic crystals offer unprecedented opportunity for light manipulation and applications in optical communication and sensing. Exploration of topology in photonic crystals and metamaterials with non-zero gauge field has inspired a number of intriguing optical phenomena such as one-way transport and Weyl points. Recently, a new degree of freedom, valley, has been demonstrated in two-dimensional materials. Here, we propose a concept of valley photonic crystals with electromagnetic duality symmetry but broken inversion symmetry. We observe photonic valley Hall effect originating from valley-dependent spin-split bulk bands, even in topologically trivial photonic crystals. Valley-spin locking behaviour results in selective net spin flow inside bulk valley photonic crystals. We also show the independent control of valley and topology in a single system that has been long pursued in electronic systems, resulting in topologically-protected flat edge states. Valley photonic crystals not only offer a route towards the observation of non-trivial states, but also open the way for device applications in integrated photonics and information processing using spin-dependent transportation.

Publication types

  • Letter
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't