BISTRO-LIGHT · Bichromatic Structures for Robust propagation of Light
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2017-09-01 → 2019-08-31
- EU contribution
- €165,599
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
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Results in brief
Bichromatic Structures for Robust propagation of Light
Topology has established itself as an invaluable tool to elucidate the properties of physical systems and to discover and/or understand novel physical phenomena. Recently, topological ideas have been transferred from the realm of electrons to that of light, to the point that we can currently speak of “topological photonics” as an autonomous field of research. Topological effects allow us to realize photonic circuits that are more robust against disorder and less sensitive to back-scattering, helping to decrease the power requirements for photonic devices and potentially paving the way to fault-tolerant quantum computation. The Marie Skłodowska Curie action “BISTRO light” aims at strengthening the theoretical knowledge of topological photonic systems, by performing theoretical research that will improve our understanding of the topology of light fields and will allow us to harness topology-inspired phenomena for demonstrating new fundamental effects and designing better photonic devices. Particular focus is put on the concept of helicity for light fields in inhomogeneous optical media. The helicity and the spin of light play a crucial role for the determination of topological invariants in optical systems. This fact is illustrated, for instance, by the spin Hall effect of light, which was an early and inspiring discovery of the topological structure of a light field. Another primary goal of the action is to demonstrate the nontrivial topological properties of a particular class of photonic crystal structures, so-called bichromatic photonic crystals. These structures are based on the coexistence of two different periodicities in the dielectric constant profile and they can be realized with state-of-the-art fabrication techniques. They represent an ideal platform for exploring topological effects in photonic crystal systems.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The investigation of topological effects in photonic systems is a thriving field of research in the nanophotonics community. Suitably designed nanostructures allow the formation of novel states for light which are more robust against disorder and less sensitive to back-scattering, spurring academic fascination and helping to improve photonic circuitry technology. Recent advances have greatly expanded the variety of systems displaying topological effects: for instance it has recently been shown that the Aubry-André model, a one-dimensional tight-binding model of particles with a periodically-modulated on-site energy, inherits the nontrivial topological properties of a higher-dimensional topological insulator.In this Action, I propose to create a photonic realization of the Aubry-André model for near-infrared light with photonic-crystal structures and demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, the emergence of nontrivial topological properties. To reach this goal, I will theoretically develop the concept of “bichromatic” photonic crystals, i.e., dielectric structures with a specific spatial arrangement of the refractive index characterized by the superposition of two incommensurate periodicities. Such structures have the potential to combine topologically-protected propagation of light with the strong enhancement of light-matter interaction characteristic of nanostructured fields. Topological effects will be revealed by the formation of boundary states at the edge of the structure, which will be experimentally visualized with near-field scanning microscope measurements. The spectrum, the topological invariants, and the effect of nonlinearities will be thoroughly investigated. This Action will give me the opportunity of directly supervising an exciting research project from the conception up to the experimental phase, improving my professional capabilities and helping me to develop stronger ties with experiments.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT · DelftCoordinatorNetherlands
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union