Abstract

Topological photonics is a new and rapidly growing field that deals with topological phases and topological insulators for light. Recently, the scope of these systems was expanded dramatically by incorporating non-spatial degrees of freedom. These synthetic dimensions can range from a discrete ladder of cavity modes or Bloch modes of an array of waveguides to a time-bin division (discrete time steps) in a pulsed system or even to parameters such as lattice constants. Combining spatial and synthetic dimensions offers the possibility to observe fundamental and exotic phenomena such as dynamics in four dimensions or higher, long-range interaction with disorder, high-dimensional nonlinear effects, and more. Here, we review the latest developments in using non-spatial dimensions as a means to enhance fundamental features of photonic topological systems, and we attempt to identify the next challenges.

© 2021 Optical Society of America

Synthetic dimension in photonics

Luqi Yuan, Qian Lin, Meng Xiao, and Shanhui Fan
Optica 5(11) 1396-1405 (2018)

Topological insulator in two synthetic dimensions based on an optomechanical resonator

Xiang Ni, Seunghwi Kim, and Andrea Alù
Optica 8(8) 1024-1032 (2021)

Topological phenomena demonstrated in photorefractive photonic lattices [Invited]

Shiqi Xia, Daohong Song, Nan Wang, Xiuying Liu, Jina Ma, Liqin Tang, Hrvoje Buljan, and Zhigang Chen
Opt. Mater. Express 11(4) 1292-1312 (2021)

Topological effects in integrated photonic waveguide structures [Invited]

Mark Kremer, Lukas J. Maczewsky, Matthias Heinrich, and Alexander Szameit
Opt. Mater. Express 11(4) 1014-1036 (2021)

Photonics meets topology

Bi-Ye Xie, Hong-Fei Wang, Xue-Yi Zhu, Ming-Hui Lu, Z. D. Wang, and Yan-Feng Chen
Opt. Express 26(19) 24531-24550 (2018)