2007/12/31 by Zheng Wang, Y. D. Chong, John D. Joannopoulos +2 · 2 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Band gap #Condensed matter physics #Dirac (video compression format) #Electronic band structure #Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications #Microwave #Observable #Photonic Crystals and Applications #Photonic crystal #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Reflection (computer programming) #Square lattice #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.100.013905
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 013905 (2008) · 4 pages, 3 figures (Figs. 1 and 2 revised.)
arxiv created 2008/01/10 · openalex publication_date 2008/01/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We point out that electromagnetic one-way edge modes analogous to quantum Hall edge states, originally predicted by Raghu and Haldane in 2D photonic crystals possessing Dirac point-derived band gaps, can appear in more general settings. We show that the TM modes in a gyromagnetic photonic crystal can be formally mapped to electronic wave functions in a periodic electromagnetic field, so that the only requirement for the existence of one-way edge modes is that the Chern number for all bands below a gap is nonzero. In a square-lattice yttrium-iron-garnet crystal operating at microwave frequencies, which lacks Dirac points, time-reversal breaking is strong enough that the effect should be easily observable. For realistic material parameters, the edge modes occupy a 10% band gap. Numerical simulations of a one-way waveguide incorporating this crystal show 100% transmission across strong defects.