Nontrivial band geometry in an optically active system

Jiahuan Ren, Qing Liao, Feng Li, Yiming Li, Olivier Bleu, Guillaume Malpuech, Jiannian Yao, Hongbing Fu, Dmitry Solnyshkov

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29 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Optical activity, also called circular birefringence, is known for two hundred years, but its applications for topological photonics remain unexplored. Unlike the Faraday effect, the optical activity provokes rotation of the linear polarization of light without magnetic effects, thus preserving the time-reversal symmetry. In this work, we report a direct measurement of the Berry curvature and quantum metric of the photonic modes of a planar cavity, containing a birefringent organic microcrystal (perylene) and exhibiting emergent optical activity. This experiment, performed at room temperature and at visible wavelength, establishes the potential of organic materials for implementing non-magnetic and low-cost topological photonic devices.

Original languageEnglish
Article number689
Number of pages8
JournalNature Communications
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2021
Externally publishedYes

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