There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Topological photonics is a rapidly emerging field of research in which geometrical and topological ideas are exploited to design and control the behavior of light. Drawing inspiration from the discovery of the quantum Hall effects and topological insulators in condensed matter, recent advances have shown how to engineer analogous effects also for photons, leading to remarkable phenomena such as the robust unidirectional propagation of light, which hold great promise for applications. Thanks to the flexibility and diversity of photonics systems, this field is also opening up new opportunities to realize exotic topological models and to probe and exploit topological effects in new ways. This article reviews experimental and theoretical developments in topological photonics across a wide range of experimental platforms, including photonic crystals, waveguides, metamaterials, cavities, optomechanics, silicon photonics, and circuit QED. A discussion of how changing the dimensionality and symmetries of photonics systems has allowed for the realization of different topological phases is offered, and progress in understanding the interplay of topology with non-Hermitian effects, such as dissipation, is reviewed. As an exciting perspective, topological photonics can be combined with optical nonlinearities, leading toward new collective phenomena and novel strongly correlated states of light, such as an analog of the fractional quantum Hall effect.

Topological Photonics

We give a general overview of the high-frequency regime in periodically driven systems and identify three distinct classes of driving protocols in which the infinite-frequency Floquet Hamiltonian is not equal to the time-averaged Hamiltonian. These classes cover systems, such as the Kapitza pendulum, the Harper–Hofstadter model of neutral atoms in a magnetic field, the Haldane Floquet Chern insulator and others. In all setups considered, we discuss both the infinite-frequency limit and the leading finite-frequency corrections to the Floquet Hamiltonian. We provide a short overview of Floquet theory focusing on the gauge structure associated with the choice of stroboscopic frame and the differences between stroboscopic and non-stroboscopic dynamics. In the latter case, one has to work with dressed operators representing observables and a dressed density matrix. We also comment on the application of Floquet Theory to systems described by static Hamiltonians with well-separated energy scales and, in particul...

Universal high-frequency behavior of periodically driven systems: from dynamical stabilization to Floquet engineering

A possible sighting of Majorana states Nearly 80 years ago, the Italian physicist Ettore Majorana proposed the existence of an unusual type of particle that is its own antiparticle, the so-called Majorana fermion. The search for a free Majorana fermion has so far been unsuccessful, but bound Majorana-like collective excitations may exist in certain exotic superconductors. Nadj-Perge et al. created such a topological superconductor by depositing iron atoms onto the surface of superconducting lead, forming atomic chains (see the Perspective by Lee). They then used a scanning tunneling microscope to observe enhanced conductance at the ends of these chains at zero energy, where theory predicts Majorana states should appear. Science, this issue p. 602; see also p. 547 Scanning tunneling microscopy is used to observe signatures of Majorana states at the ends of iron atom chains. [Also see Perspective by Lee] Majorana fermions are predicted to localize at the edge of a topological superconductor, a state of matter that can form when a ferromagnetic system is placed in proximity to a conventional superconductor with strong spin-orbit interaction. With the goal of realizing a one-dimensional topological superconductor, we have fabricated ferromagnetic iron (Fe) atomic chains on the surface of superconducting lead (Pb). Using high-resolution spectroscopic imaging techniques, we show that the onset of superconductivity, which gaps the electronic density of states in the bulk of the Fe chains, is accompanied by the appearance of zero-energy end-states. This spatially resolved signature provides strong evidence, corroborated by other observations, for the formation of a topological phase and edge-bound Majorana fermions in our atomic chains.

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Observation of Majorana fermions in ferromagnetic atomic chains on a superconductor

We show that the pseudorelativistic physics of graphene near the Fermi level can be extended to three dimensional (3D) materials. Unlike in phase transitions from inversion symmetric topological to normal insulators, we show that particular space groups also allow 3D Dirac points as symmetry protected degeneracies. We provide criteria necessary to identify these groups and, as an example, present ab initio calculations of β-cristobalite BiO(2) which exhibits three Dirac points at the Fermi level. We find that β-cristobalite BiO(2) is metastable, so it can be physically realized as a 3D analog to graphene.

Dirac Semimetal in Three Dimensions

We introduce two-dimensional topological insulators in proximity to high-temperature cuprate or iron-based superconductors as high-temperature platforms of Majorana Kramers pairs of zero modes. The proximity-induced pairing at the helical edge state of the topological insulator serves as a Dirac mass, whose sign changes at the sample corner because of the pairing symmetry of high-T_{c} superconductors. This sign changing naturally creates at each corner a pair of Majorana zero modes protected by time-reversal symmetry. Conceptually, this is a topologically trivial superconductor-based approach for Majorana zero modes. We provide quantitative criteria and suggest candidate materials for this proposal.

Majorana Corner Modes in a High-Temperature Platform.

In topological semimetals, the valance band and conduction band meet at zero-dimensional nodal points or one-dimensional nodal rings, which are protected by band topology and symmetries. In this Rapid Communication, we introduce ``nodal-link semimetals'', which host linked nodal rings in the Brillouin zone. We put forward a general recipe based on the Hopf map for constructing models of nodal-link semimetals. The consequences of nodal ring linking in the Landau levels and Floquet properties are investigated.

Nodal-link semimetals

Topological nodal-line semimetals are characterized by one-dimensional lines of band crossing in the Brillouin zone. In contrast to nodal points, nodal lines can be in topologically nontrivial configurations. In this Rapid Communication, we introduce the concept of ``nodal-knot semimetals,'' whose nodal lines form topologically nontrivial knots in the Brillouin zone. We introduce a generic construction of nodal-knot semimetals, which yields the simplest trefoil nodal knot and other more complicated nodal knots. The knotted-unknotted transitions by nodal-line reconnections are also studied. Our work brings the knot theory to the subject of topological semimetals.

Nodal-knot semimetals

Weyl semimetals and nodal line semimetals are characterized by linear band touching at zero-dimensional points and one-dimensional lines, respectively. We predict that a circularly polarized light drives nodal line semimetals into Weyl semimetals. The Floquet Weyl points thus obtained are tunable by the incident light, which enables investigations of them in a highly controllable manner. The transition from nodal line semimetals to Weyl semimetals is accompanied by the emergence of a large and tunable anomalous Hall conductivity. Our predictions are experimentally testable by transport measurement in film samples or by pump-probe angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.

Tunable Weyl Points in Periodically Driven Nodal Line Semimetals

Periodically driven (Floquet) systems have been under active theoretical and experimental investigations. This paper aims at a systematic study in the following aspects of Floquet systems: (i) a systematic formulation of topological invariants of Floquet systems based on the cooperation of topology and symmetries. Topological invariants are constructed for the ten symmetry classes in all spatial dimensions, for both homogeneous Floquet systems (Floquet topological insulators and superconductors) and Floquet topological defects. Meanwhile, useful representative Dirac Hamiltonians for all the symmetry classes are obtained and studied. (ii) A general theory of Floquet topological defects, based on the proposed topological invariants. (iii) Models and proposals of Floquet topological defects in low dimensions. Among other defect modes, we investigate Floquet Majorana zero modes and Majorana Pi modes in vortices of topologically trivial superconductors under a periodic drive. In addition, we clarified several notable issues about Floquet topological invariants. Among other issues, we prove the equivalence between the effective-Hamiltonian-based band topological invariants and the frequency-domain band topological invariants.

Zhongbo Yan

Papers

Majorana Corner Modes in a High-Temperature Platform.

Nodal-link semimetals

Nodal-knot semimetals

Tunable Weyl Points in Periodically Driven Nodal Line Semimetals

Topological invariants of Floquet systems: General formulation, special properties, and Floquet topological defects