Using a hexagonal array of helical waveguides, physicists have observed robust optical waves that move in one direction, bypassing obstacles and imperfections exactly as predicted by the theory of topological insulators. See Letter p.196
References
Yablonovitch, E. Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 2059–2062 (1987).
John, S. Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 2486–2489 (1987).
Joannopoulos, J. D., Johnson, S. G., Winn, J. N. & Meade, R. D. Photonic Crystals: Molding the Flow of Light (Princeton Univ. Press, 2008).
Rechtsman, M. C. et al. Nature 496, 196–200 (2013).
Moore, J. E. Nature 464, 194–198 (2010).
Bernevig, B. A. et al. Science 314, 1757–1761 (2006).
König, M. et al. Science 318, 766–770 (2007).
Wang, Z. et al. Nature 461, 772–775 (2009).
Lindner, N. H. et al. Nature Phys. 7, 490–495 (2011).
Fang, K. et al. Nature Photon. 6, 782–787 (2012).
Schwartz, T. et al. Nature 446, 52–55 (2007).
Hafezi, M., Fan, J., Migdall, A. & Taylor, J. Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/1302.2153 (2013).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chong, Y. Photonic insulators with a twist. Nature 496, 173–174 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/496173a
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/496173a
- Springer Nature Limited