Synthesis and observation of non-Abelian gauge fields in real space
Abstract
The development of gauge fields is fundamental to our theoretical understanding of interactions in physical systems. There are two kinds of fields: Abelian, in which the measured effects on an observable parameter are commutative; and non-Abelian (noncommutative), where the sequence in which the field is applied matters. The latter are more difficult to realize in solid-state systems, but recent theoretical work has suggested that these could be synthesized optically. Yang et al. generated non-Abelian gauge fields by cascading multiple nonreciprocal optical elements and verified this accomplishment by the observed interference patterns in a Sagnac interferometer. Having a system that is tunable between Abelian and non-Abelian regimes will be important for studying complex topological states in photonic platforms.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Sep 06, 2019
- Source ID
- 10.1126/science.aay3183
Entities
People
- Bo Zhen
- Chao Peng
- Di Zhu
- Hrvoje Buljan
- John D. Joannopoulos
- Marin Soljačić
- Yi Yang
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- Charles E. Kaufman Foundation
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Nankai University
- National Science Foundation
- Peking University
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Zagreb