Experimental Observation of Large Chern Numbers in Photonic Crystals
Abstract
Despite great interest in the quantum anomalous Hall phase and its analogs, all experimental studies in electronic and bosonic systems have been limited to a Chern number of one. Here, we perform microwave transmission measurements in the bulk and at the edge of ferrimagnetic photonic crystals. Band gaps with large Chern numbers of 2, 3, and 4 are present in the experimental results, which show excellent agreement with theory. We measure the mode profiles and Fourier transform them to produce dispersion relations of the edge modes, whose number and direction match our Chern number calculations.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- December 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.253901
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1504.04399
- Bibcode:
- 2015PhRvL.115y3901S
- Keywords:
-
- 42.79.Ta;
- 42.70.Qs;
- 42.79.Fm;
- 42.79.Gn;
- Optical computers logic elements interconnects switches;
- neural networks;
- Photonic bandgap materials;
- Reflectors beam splitters and deflectors;
- Optical waveguides and couplers;
- Physics - Optics;
- Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
- E-Print:
- This experimental work was accepted to PRL on Oct. 13, 2015. Our theoretical work from PRL http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.113904