Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Silveirinha MG
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6341178 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Nature communications 20190121 1
The Chern index characterizes the topological phases of nonreciprocal photonic systems. Unlike in electronics, the photonic Chern number has no clear physical meaning, except that it determines the number of unidirectional edge states supported by an interface with a trivial mirror. Here, we fill in this gap by demonstrating that the photonic Chern number can be understood as the quantum of the light-angular momentum in a photonic insulator cavity. It is proven that for a large cavity, the therm ...[more]