Topological insulator is a material in which helical conducting states exist on the surface of the bulk insulator. These states can transport electrons or photons at the boundary without any back scattering, even in presence of obstacles enabling to make topological cavities with arbitrary geometries that light can propagate in one direction. Here, we present the demonstration of the first experimental non-reciprocal topological laser that operates at telecommunication wavelengths. The unidirectional stimulated emission from edge states is coupled to a selected waveguide output port with an isolation ratio of 11 dB. Topological cavities are made of hybrid photonic crystals (i.e., two different photonic crystals) with distinct topological phase invariants, which are bonded on a magnetic material of yttrium iron garnet to break the time-reversal symmetry. Our experimental demonstration, paves the way to develop complex nonreciprocal topological devices of arbitrary geometries for integrated and robust generation and transport of light in classical and quantum regimes.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.