ABSTRACT
Topological photonics is an emerging research area that focuses on the topological states of classical light. Here we reveal the topological phases that are intrinsic to the particle nature of light, i.e., solely related to the quantized Fock states and the inhomogeneous coupling between them. The Hamiltonian of two cavities coupled with a two-level atom is an intrinsic one-dimensional Su-Schriefer-Heeger model of Fock states. By adding another cavity, the Fock-state lattice is extended to two dimensions with a honeycomb structure, where the strain due to the inhomogeneity of the coupling strengths induces a Lifshitz topological phase transition between a semimetal and three band insulators within the lattice. In the semimetallic phase, the strain is equivalent to a pseudomagnetic field, which results in the quantization of the Landau levels and the valley Hall effect. We further construct a Haldane model where the topological phases can be characterized by the topological markers. This study demonstrates a fundamental distinction between the topological phases of bosons and fermions and provides a novel platform for studying topological physics in dimensions higher than three.
[1] Han Cai and Da-Wei Wang, “Topological phases of quantized light”, National Science Review 8, nwaa196 (2021).
[2] Jiale Yuan, Han Cai, Congjun Wu, Shi-Yao Zhu, Ren-Bao Liu and Da-Wei Wang, “Unification of valley and anomalous Hall effects in a strained lattice”, Phys. Rev. B 104, 035410 (2021).
[3] Da-Wei Wang, Han Cai, Ren-Bao Liu and Marlan O. Scully, “Mesoscopic superposition states generated by synthetic spin-orbit interaction in Fock-state lattices”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 220502 (2016).
BIOGRAPHY
Da-Wei Wang is currently Assistant Professor at Zhejiang University. He obtained his PhD degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2012. Before he joined Zhejiang University in 2017, he was Research Associate Professor at Texas A&M University. Prof. Wang's research focuses on the quantum simulation and quantum control in atom-photon interacting systems, such as in superradiance lattices and superconducting circuits. Recently he and his collaborators observed chiral edge currents in room-temperature atoms and synthesized several many-body interactions in superconducting circuits, including DM interaction, chiral spin interaction and three-body spin exchange interaction.
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