Abstract:

The deeper understanding of topology in physics has led to a new concept of physical objects - topologically ordered system. A topological insulator is an electronic material that has a band gap in its interior like an ordinary insulator but possesses conducting states on its edge or surface. The talk gives an overview about the emerging field of topological photonics and concerns the optical counterparts of the electronic edge states in topological insulators. I will present theoretical and experimental studies of topological edge states of photons, exciton-polaritons and plasmons in periodic one- and two-dimensional nanostructures. The examples of realizations include arrays of coupled optical-ring resonators and multiple quantum wells. A method is presented for measuring topological invariants of a photonic structure through the phase spectroscopy. Particularly, it is shown how the Chern numbers can be deduced from the winding numbers of the reflection coefficient phase.
 
 
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