Programmable Polariton Topological Insulators All-Optically Controlled by the Stark Effect.

Abstract

Efficiently and flexibly manipulating unidirectional edge states is key to developing topological insulators as functional devices. In this work, we propose an all-optical method that utilizes the valley-selective optical Stark effect to realize programmable topological insulators. We pattern a two-dimensional honeycomb structure in an exciton-polariton platform resulting from a strong light-matter coupling in a monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide. The optical Stark effect is induced to generate a pseudo magnetic field, combined with spin-orbit coupling to form the topological one-way edge states of the polariton. On account of the ultrafast switching speed and precisely spatial controllability of the optical Stark effect, two applications, i.e., ports ratio tunable polariton splitter and programmable polariton router, were demonstrated, showing designable and rewritable functionality of all-optically controllable polariton topological insulators. This study paves the way to robustly and intelligently control/form polaritonic and spintronic devices for future classical and quantum information processing and application.