Slow light topological photonics with counter-propagating waves and its active control on a chip

• Main Authors: Kumar, Abhishek, Tan, Yi Ji, Navaratna, Nikhil, Gupta, Manoj, Pitchappa, Prakash, Singh, Ranjan
• Other Authors: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Physics; Silicon; Topology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174281
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Topological slow light exhibits potential to achieve stopped light by virtue of its widely known robust and non-reciprocal behaviours. Conventional approach for achieving topological slow light often involves flat-band engineering without disentangling the underlying physical mechanism. Here, we unveil the presence of counter-propagating waves within valley kink states as the distinctive hallmark of the slow light topological photonic waveguides. These counter-propagating waves, supported by topological vortices along glide-symmetric interface, provide significant flexibility for controlling the slowness of light. We tune the group velocity of light by changing the spatial separation between vortices adjacent to the glide-symmetric interface. We also dynamically control the group delay by introducing a non-Hermitian defect using photoexcitation to adjust the relative strength of the counter-propagating waves. This study introduces active slow light topological photonic device on a silicon chip, opening new horizons for topological photon transport through defects, topological light-matter interactions, nonlinear topological photonics, and topological quantum photonics.