Definite photon deflections of topological defects in metasurfaces and symmetry-breaking phase transitions with material loss*

In this work [1], by using an artificial waveguide bounded with rotational metasurface, the nontrivial effects of a topological defect of spacetime are experimentally emulated. The photon deflection in the topological waveguide has a robust definite angle that does not depend on the location and momentum of incident photons. This is remarkably different from the random optical scattering in trivial space. By including material loss such a topological effect can be well understood from the symmetry breaking of photonic modes. Our technique provides a platform to investigate topological gravity in optical systems. This method can also be extended to obtain many other novel topological photonic devices.

[1] Chong Sheng, Hui Liu*, Huanyang Chen and Shining Zhu “Definite photon deflections of topological defects in metasurfaces and symmetry-breaking phase transitions with material loss”Nature Communications 9:4271, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06718-9 (2018)