Abstract
Topological photonics seeks to control the behaviour of the light through the design of protected topological modes in photonic structures. While this approach originated from studying the behaviour of electrons in solid-state materials, it has since blossomed into a field that is at the very forefront of the search for new topological types of matter. This can have real implications for future technologies by harnessing the robustness of topological photonics for applications in photonics devices. This roadmap surveys some of the main emerging areas of research within topological photonics, with a special attention to questions in fundamental science, which photonics is in an ideal position to address. Each section provides an overview of the current and future challenges within a part of the field, highlighting the most exciting opportunities for future research and developments.
Highlights
Hannah Price1, Yidong Chong2 and Alexander Khanikaev3Over the last decade, topological photonics has established itself as one of the most promising platforms in which topological phases can be explored and exploited
This physics is liberated from fundamental constraints and enhanced by a wide variety of effects ranging from gain and loss over nonlinearities to nonequilibrium phenomena, and occurring on the classical and quantum level
The development of 3D topological photonics is still in its infancy and future researches will be focused on realization of 3D topological phases at optical frequencies and the further consequent applications
Summary
Similar to conventional phase transitions, topological phase transitions are accompanied by an abrupt change in the ground state of the system, in the latter case, transitions cannot be described or understood as a consequence of any spontaneous symmetry breaking. These ideas were originally developed entirely within the context of condensed matter physics, but in 2005 it was proposed that photonic crystals can exhibit a new type of electromagnetic wave, analogous to the edge states of a quantum Hall system, that travels unidirectionally and is intrinsically resistant to scattering [4,5]. First in microwave photonic crystals [6], and later in waveguide arrays [7], silicon photonics [8, 9], and other photonic platforms [10, 11]
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