Your conditions: Yiqi Zhang
  • The Zhang lattice: a simple lattice naturally has type-II Dirac points

    Subjects: Physics >> Electromagnetism, Optics, Acoustics, Heat Transfer, Classical Mechanics, and Fluid Dynamics Subjects: Physics >> Interdisciplinary Physics and Related Areas of Science and Technology submitted time 2023-07-12

    Abstract: I review the discovery as well as the band structure of the Zhang lattice.

  • Dark topological valley Hall edge solitons

    Subjects: Optics >> Quantum optics submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: Topological edge solitons propagating along the edge of a photonic topological insulator are localized self-sustained hybrid states that are immune to de-fects/disorders due to protection of the edge states stemming from nontrivial topology of the system. Here, we predict that exceptionally robust dark valley Hall edge solitons may form at the domain walls between two honeycomb lattices with broken inversion sym-metry. The underlying structure can be created with femtosecond laser inscription, it possesses large bandgap where well-localized dark edge solitons form, and in contrast to systems with broken time-reversal symmetry, it does not require external magnetic fields or complex longitudinal waveguide modulations for reali-zation of the topological phase. We present the enve-lope equation allowing to construct dark valley Hall edge solitons analytically. Such solitons propagate without radiation into the bulk of the lattice, and can circumvent sharp corners, that allows to observe their persistent circulation along the closed triangular domain wall boundary. They survive over huge distances even in the presence of disorder in the underlying lattice. We also investigate interactions of closely located dark topological valley Hall edge solitons and show that they are repulsive and lead to the formation of two grey edge solitons, moving with different group velocities depart-ing from group velocity of the linear edge state on which initial dark solitons were constructed. Our results illus-trate that nonlinear valley Hall systems can support rich variety of new self-sustained topological states and may inspire their investigation in other nonlinear systems, such as atomic vapours and polariton condensates.

  • Nonlinear photonic disclination states

    Subjects: Optics >> Quantum optics submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: Higher-order topological insulators are unusual materials that can support topologically protected states, whose dimensionality is lower than the dimensionality of the structure at least by 2. Among the most intriguing examples of such states are zero-dimensional corner modes existing in two-dimensional higher-order insulators. In contrast to corner states, recently discovered disclination states also belong to the class of higher-order topological states, but are bound to the boundary of the disclination defect of the higher-order topological insulator and can be predicted using the bulk-disclination correspondence principle. Here, we present the first example of the nonlinear photonic disclination state bifurcating from its linear counterpart in the disclination lattice with a pentagonal or heptagonal core. We show that nonlinearity allows to tune location of the disclination states in the bandgap and notably affects their shapes. The structure of the disclination lattice is crucial for stability of these nonlinear topological states: for example, disclination states are stable in the heptagonal lattice and are unstable nearly in the entire gap of the pentagonal lattice. Nonlinear disclination states reported here are thresholdless and can be excited even at low powers. Nonlinear zero-energy states coexisting in these structures with disclination states are also studied. Our results suggest that disclination lattices can be used in the design of various nonlinear topological functional devices, while disclination states supported by them may play an important role in applications, where strong field confinement together with topological protection are important, such as the design of topological lasers and enhancement of generation of high harmonics.

  • Floquet topological insulators with hybrid edges

    Subjects: Optics >> Quantum optics submitted time 2023-02-19

    Abstract: Topological edge states form at the edges of periodic materials with specific degeneracies in their modal spectra, such as Dirac points, under the action of effects breaking certain symmetries of the system. In particular, in Floquet topological insulators unidirectional edge states appear upon breakup of the effective time-reversal symmetry due to dynamical modulations of the underlying lattice potential. However, such states are usually reported for certain simple lattice terminations, for example, at zigzag or bearded edges in honeycomb lattices. Here we show that unconventional topological edge states may exist in Floquet insulators based on arrays of helical waveguides with hybrid edges involving alternating zigzag and armchair segments, even if the latter are long. Such edge states appear in the largest part of the first Brillouin zone and show topological protection upon passage through the defects. Topological states at hybrid edges persist in the presence of focusing nonlinearity of the material. Our results can be extended to other lattice types and physical systems, they lift some of the constraints connected with lattice terminations that may not support edge states in the absence of effects breaking time-reversal symmetry of the system and expand the variety of geometrical shapes in which topological insulators can be constructed.