Photonic Gauge Potential in One Cavity with Synthetic Frequency and Orbital Angular Momentum Dimensions

Luqi Yuan, Qian Lin, Anwei Zhang, Meng Xiao, Xianfeng Chen, and Shanhui Fan

Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 083903 – Published 1 March 2019

Abstract

We explore a single degenerate optical cavity supporting a synthetic two-dimensional space, which includes the frequency and the orbital angular momentum (OAM) axes of light. We create the effective gauge potential inside this synthetic space and show that the system exhibits topologically protected one-way edge states along the OAM axis at the boundaries of the frequency dimension. In this synthetic space, we present a robust generation and manipulation of entanglement between the frequency and OAM of photons. Our Letter shows that a higher-dimensional synthetic space involving multiple degrees of freedom of light can be achieved in a “zero-dimensional” spatial structure, pointing towards a unique platform to explore topological photonics and to realize potential applications in optical communications and quantum information processing.

Received 7 November 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.083903

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Angular momentum of light Frequency combs & self-phase locking Topological effects in photonic systems

Mode coupling theory

General Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Luqi Yuan^1,*, Qian Lin², Anwei Zhang¹, Meng Xiao³, Xianfeng Chen^1,†, and Shanhui Fan^3,‡

¹School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
²Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
³Department of Electrical Engineering, and Ginzton Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA