Near-Field Spin Chern Number Quantized by Real-Space Topology of Optical Structures

Tong Fu, Ruo-Yang Zhang, Shiqi Jia, C. T. Chan, Shubo Wang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)
30 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

The Chern number has been widely used to describe the topological properties of periodic structures in momentum space. Here, we introduce a real-space spin Chern number for the optical near fields of finite-sized structures. This new spin Chern number is intrinsically quantized and equal to the structure's Euler characteristic. The relationship is robust against continuous deformation of the structure's geometry and is irrelevant to the specific material constituents or external excitation. Our Letter enriches topological physics by extending the Chern number to real space, opening exciting possibilities for exploring the real-space topological properties of light.  © 2024 American Physical Society

Original languageEnglish
Article number233801
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume132
Issue number23
Online published7 Jun 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Jun 2024

Funding

The work described in this Letter was supported by grants from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (CityU 11306019 and AoE/P-502/20) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 12322416 and No. 11904306).

Publisher's Copyright Statement

  • COPYRIGHT TERMS OF DEPOSITED FINAL PUBLISHED VERSION FILE: Fu, T., Zhang, R.-Y., Jia, S., Chan, C. T., & Wang, S. (2024). Near-Field Spin Chern Number Quantized by Real-Space Topology of Optical Structures. Physical Review Letters, 132(23), Article 233801. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.233801 The copyright of this article is owned by American Physical Society.

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