Direct observation of valley-polarized topological edge states in designer surface plasmon crystals

Abstract

The extensive research of two-dimensional layered materials has revealed that valleys, as energy extrema in momentum space, could offer a new degree of freedom for carrying information. Based on this concept, researchers have predicted valley-Hall topological insulators that could support valley-polarized edge states at non-trivial domain walls. Recently, several kinds of photonic and sonic crystals have been proposed as classical counterparts of valley-Hall topological insulators. However, direct experimental observation of valley-polarized edge states in photonic crystals has remained difficult until now. Here, we demonstrate a designer surface plasmon crystal comprising metallic patterns deposited on a dielectric substrate, which can become a valley-Hall photonic topological insulator by exploiting the mirror-symmetry-breaking mechanism. Topological edge states with valley-dependent transport are directly visualized in the microwave regime. The observed edge states are confirmed to be fully valley-polarized through spatial Fourier transforms. Topological protection of the edge states at sharp corners is also experimentally demonstrated.

Full text

Its licence does not allow us to show the full text. Read it at PubMed Central:

References 54

1. 1.

   McCann E, et al. Weak-localization magnetoresistance and valley symmetry in graphene. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2006;97:146805.

   Not in our library10.1103/physrevlett.97.146805

2. 2.

   Rycerz A, Tworzydło J, Beenakker C. Valley filter and valley valve in graphene. Nat. Phys. 2007;3:172-175.

   Not in our library10.1038/nphys547

3. 3.

   Xiao D, Yao W, Niu Q. Valley-contrasting physics in graphene: magnetic moment and topological transport. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2007;99:236809.

   Not in our library10.1103/physrevlett.99.236809

4. 4.

   Lebegue S, Eriksson O. Electronic structure of two-dimensional crystals from ab initio theory. Phys. Rev. B. 2009;79:115409.

   Not in our library10.1103/physrevb.79.115409

5. 5.

   Yao W, Xiao D, Niu Q. Valley-dependent optoelectronics from inversion symmetry breaking. Phys. Rev. B. 2008;77:235406.

   Not in our library10.1103/physrevb.77.235406

6. 6.

   Behnia K. Condensed-matter physics: polarized light boosts valleytronics. Nat. Nanotechnol. 2012;7:488-489.

   Not in our library10.1038/nnano.2012.117

7. 7.

   Jariwala D, Sangwan VK, Lauhon LJ, Marks TJ, Hersam MC. Emerging device applications for semiconducting two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides. ACS Nano. 2014;8:1102-1120.

   Not in our library10.1021/nn500064s

8. 8.

   Mak KF, McGill KL, Park J, McEuen PL. The valley Hall effect in MoS2 transistors. Science. 2014;344:1489-1492.

   Not in our library10.1126/science.1250140

9. 9.

   Schaibley JR, et al. Valleytronics in 2D materials. Nat. Rev. Mater. 2016;1:16055.

   Not in our library10.1038/natrevmats.2016.55

10. 10.

    Yao W, Yang SA, Niu Q. Edge states in graphene: from gapped flat-band to gapless chiral modes. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2009;102:096801.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevlett.102.096801

11. 11.

    Zhang F, Jung J, Fiete GA, Niu Q, MacDonald AH. Spontaneous quantum Hall states in chirally stacked few-layer graphene systems. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2011;106:156801.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevlett.106.156801

12. 12.

    Qiao Z, Tse W-K, Jiang H, Yao Y, Niu Q. Two-dimensional topological insulator state and topological phase transition in bilayer graphene. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2011;107:256801.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevlett.107.256801

13. 13.

    Zhang F, MacDonald AH, Mele EJ. Valley Chern numbers and boundary modes in gapped bilayer graphene. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 2013;110:10546-10551.

    Not in our library10.1073/pnas.1308853110

14. 14.

    Ju L, et al. Topological valley transport at bilayer graphene domain walls. Nature. 2015;520:650-655.

    Not in our library10.1038/nature14364

15. 15.

    Song Z, et al. Quantum spin Hall insulators and quantum valley Hall insulators of BiX/SbX (X=H, F, Cl and Br) monolayers with a record bulk band gap. NPG Asia Mater. 2014;6:e147.

    Not in our library10.1038/am.2014.113

16. 16.

    Ma T, Shvets G. All-Si valley-Hall photonic topological insulator. New J. Phys. 2016;18:025012.

    Not in our library10.1088/1367-2630/18/2/025012

17. 17.

    Dong J-W, Chen X-D, Zhu H, Wang Y, Zhang X. Valley photonic crystals for control of spin and topology. Nat. Mater. 2016;16:298-302.

    Not in our library10.1038/nmat4807

18. 18.

    Chen, X.-D. & Dong, J.-W. Valley-protected backscattering suppression in silicon photonic graphene. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/1602.03352 (2016).

    Not in our library

19. 19.

    Chen X-D, Zhao F-L, Chen M, Dong J-W. Valley-contrasting physics in all-dielectric photonic crystals: orbital angular momentum and topological propagation. Phys. Rev. B. 2017;96:020202.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevb.96.020202

20. 20.

    Lu J, et al. Observation of topological valley transport of sound in sonic crystals. Nat. Phys. 2016;13:369-374.

    Not in our library10.1038/nphys3999

21. 21.

    Wang Z, Chong Y, Joannopoulos J, Soljačić M. Observation of unidirectional backscattering-immune topological electromagnetic states. Nature. 2009;461:772-775.

    Not in our library10.1038/nature08293

22. 22.

    Chen W-J, et al. Experimental realization of photonic topological insulator in a uniaxial metacrystal waveguide. Nat. Commun. 2014;5:5782.

    Not in our library10.1038/ncomms6782

23. 23.

    Ma T, Khanikaev AB, Mousavi SH, Shvets G. Guiding electromagnetic waves around sharp corners: topologically protected photonic transport in metawaveguides. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2015;114:127401.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevlett.114.127401

24. 24.

    Wu L-H, Hu X. Scheme for achieving a topological photonic crystal by using dielectric material. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2015;114:223901.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevlett.114.223901

25. 25.

    Cheng X, et al. Robust reconfigurable electromagnetic pathways within a photonic topological insulator. Nat. Mater. 2016;15:542-548.

    Not in our library10.1038/nmat4573

26. 26.

    Ye L, et al. Observation of acoustic valley vortex states and valley-chirality locked beam splitting. Phys. Rev. B. 2017;95:174106.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevb.95.174106

27. 27.

    Barik S, Miyake H, DeGottardi W, Waks E, Hafezi M. Two-dimensionally confined topological edge states in photonic crystals. New J. Phys. 2016;18:113013.

    Not in our library10.1088/1367-2630/18/11/113013

28. 28.

    Pendry J, Martin-Moreno L, Garcia-Vidal F. Mimicking surface plasmons with structured surfaces. Science. 2004;305:847-848.

    Not in our library10.1126/science.1098999

29. 29.

    Garcia-Vidal F, Martin-Moreno L, Pendry J. Surfaces with holes in them: new plasmonic metamaterials. J. Opt. A. 2005;7:S97.

    Not in our library10.1088/1464-4258/7/2/013

30. 30.

    Maier SA, Andrews SR, Martin-Moreno L, Garcia-Vidal F. Terahertz surface plasmon-polariton propagation and focusing on periodically corrugated metal wires. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2006;97:176805.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevlett.97.176805

31. 31.

    Williams CR, et al. Highly confined guiding of terahertz surface plasmon polaritons on structured metal surfaces. Nat. Photonics. 2008;2:175-179.

    Not in our library10.1038/nphoton.2007.301

32. 32.

    Yu N, et al. Designer spoof surface plasmon structures collimate terahertz laser beams. Nat. Mater. 2010;9:730-735.

    Not in our library10.1038/nmat2822

33. 33.

    Kats MA, Woolf D, Blanchard R, Yu N, Capasso F. Spoof plasmon analogue of metal-insulator-metal waveguides. Opt. Express. 2011;19:14860-14870.

    Not in our library10.1364/oe.19.014860

34. 34.

    Pors A, Moreno E, Martin-Moreno L, Pendry JB, Garcia-Vidal FJ. Localized spoof plasmons arise while texturing closed surfaces. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2012;108:223905.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevlett.108.223905

35. 35.

    Shen X, Cui TJ, Martin-Cano D, Garcia-Vidal FJ. Conformal surface plasmons propagating on ultrathin and flexible films. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA. 2013;110:40-45.

    Not in our library10.1073/pnas.1210417110

36. 36.

    Shen X, Cui TJ. Ultrathin plasmonic metamaterial for spoof localized surface plasmons. Laser Photon. Rev. 2014;8:137-145.

    Not in our library10.1002/lpor.201300144

37. 37.

    Liao Z, et al. Combined system for efficient excitation and capture of LSP resonances and flexible control of SPP transmissions. ACS Photonics. 2015;2:738-743.

    Not in our library10.1021/acsphotonics.5b00096

38. 38.

    Gao F, et al. Vertical transport of subwavelength localized surface electromagnetic modes. Laser Photon. Rev. 2015;9:571-576.

    Not in our library10.1002/lpor.201500117

39. 39.

    Gao Z, Gao F, Shastri KK, Zhang B. Frequency-selective propagation of localized spoof surface plasmons in a graded plasmonic resonator chain. Sci. Rep. 2016;6:25576.

    Not in our library10.1038/srep25576

40. 40.

    Gao F, et al. Probing topological protection using a designer surface plasmon structure. Nat. Commun. 2016;7:11619.

    Not in our library10.1038/ncomms11619

41. 41.

    Meng Y, et al. Topological interface states in multiscale spoof-insulator-spoof waveguides. Opt. Lett. 2016;41:3698-3701.

    Not in our library10.1364/ol.41.003698

42. 42.

    Yang Y, et al. Hyperbolic spoof plasmonic metasurfaces. NPG Asia Mater. 2017;9:e428.

    Not in our library10.1038/am.2017.158

43. 43.

    Skirlo SA, et al. Experimental observation of large Chern numbers in photonic crystals. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2015;115:253901.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevlett.115.253901

44. 44.

    Hafezi M, Demler EA, Lukin MD, Taylor JM. Robust optical delay lines with topological protection. Nat. Phys. 2011;7:907-912.

    Not in our library10.1038/nphys2063

45. 45.

    Hafezi M, Mittal S, Fan J, Migdall A, Taylor J. Imaging topological edge states in silicon photonics. Nat. Photonics. 2013;7:1001-1005.

    Not in our library10.1038/nphoton.2013.274

46. 46.

    Xiao B, et al. Exciting reflectionless unidirectional edge modes in a reciprocal photonic topological insulator medium. Phys. Rev. B. 2016;94:195427.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevb.94.195427

47. 47.

    Johnson SG, Fan S, Villeneuve PR, Joannopoulos JD, Kolodziejski L. Guided modes in photonic crystal slabs. Phys. Rev. B. 1999;60:5751.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevb.60.5751

48. 48.

    Lu J, et al. Dirac cones in two-dimensional artificial crystals for classical waves. Phys. Rev. B. 2014;89:134302.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevb.89.134302

49. 49.

    Lu J, Qiu C, Ke M, Liu Z. Valley vortex states in sonic crystals. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2016;116:093901.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevlett.116.093901

50. 50.

    Mei J, Wu Y, Chan C, Zhang Z-Q. First-principles study of Dirac and Dirac-like cones in phononic and photonic crystals. Phys. Rev. B. 2012;86:035141.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevb.86.035141

51. 51.

    Wang H, Xu L, Chen H, Jiang J-H. Three-dimensional photonic Dirac points stabilized by point group symmetry. Phys. Rev. B. 2016;93:235155.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevb.93.235155

52. 52.

    Ezawa M. Topological Kirchhoff law and bulk-edge correspondence for valley Chern and spin-valley Chern numbers. Phys. Rev. B. 2013;88:161406.

    Not in our library10.1103/physrevb.88.161406

53. 53.

    Brendel, C., Peano, V., Painter, O. & Marquardt, F. Snowflake topological insulator for sound waves. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/1701.06330 (2017).

    Not in our library

54. 54.

    Fukui T, Hatsugai Y, Suzuki H. Chern numbers in discretized Brillouin zone: efficient method of computing (spin) Hall conductances. J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 2005;74:1674-1677.

    Not in our library10.1143/jpsj.74.1674

Cited by papers we hold 3

• Recent advances in 2D, 3D and higher-order topological photonics · 2020
  No notice
• Valley-locked waveguide transport in acoustic heterostructures · 2020
  Not checked
• A silicon-on-insulator slab for topological valley transport · 2019
  No notice

Reads

A person counts once a day per paper. We keep no cookie and no address: a reader is a hash that changes every day. Any month under five reads shows no number.