Strain induced photonic topological insulator

Abstract

Strain can be used to tune the electromagnetic properties of photonic crystals by altering their structural and mechanical properties. Nonetheless, photonic topological states associated with electromagnetic one-way edged modes induced by strain have never been observed in photonic crystals, and the connection between photonic topological states and strain remains unclear. Using COMSOL Multiphysics calculations, we demonstrated that strain can trigger photonic topological states with appropriate strain engineering. We also identified that these photonic topological states are insensitive to crystal defects (impurities, vacancies). Our results may promote future studies of novel applications in quantum computing and quantum simulations.