Issue |
EPL
Volume 116, Number 3, November 2016
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 30005 | |
Number of page(s) | 6 | |
Section | General | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/116/30005 | |
Published online | 21 December 2016 |
Robust unidirectional transport in a one-dimensional metacrystal with long-range hopping
Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano, Italy and Istituto di Fotonica e Nanotecnlogie del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, sezione di Milano Piazza L. da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano, Italy
Received: 19 October 2016
Accepted: 28 November 2016
In two- and three-dimensional structures, topologically protected chiral edge modes offer a powerful mean to realize robust light transport. However, little attention has been paid so far to robust one-way transport in one-dimensional systems. Here it is shown that unidirectional transport, which is immune to disorder and backscattering, can occur in certain one-dimensional metacrystals with long-range hopping without resorting to topological protection. Such metacrystals are described by an effective Hermitian Hamiltonian with broken time-reversal symmetry, and transport does not require adiabatic (Thouless) pumping. A simple implementation in optics of such one-dimensional metacrystals, based on transverse light dynamics in a self-imaging optical cavity with phase gratings, is suggested.
PACS: 05.60.Gg – Quantum transport / 03.65.Vf – Phases: geometric; dynamic or topological / 42.60.Da – Resonators, cavities, amplifiers, arrays, and rings
© EPLA, 2016
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