Dear all

Please be aware of the following seminar.

Best regards, Ilona -----------------------------------------------------------

Mohammad Hafezi (Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland, and NIST)

will talk about

Observation of topological photonic edge states in Silicon

Wedneday, June 26, 2013 14:00 - 15:00 HIT E41.1

Abstract

Systems with topological order exhibit exotic phenomena associated purely with the boundaries of the system. While most systems with topological order have been electronic, advances in our understanding of synthetic gauge fields have enabled investigation of topological order in ultracold atoms or even with photons. In this talk, I describe our efforts on the theoretical and the experimental realization of synthetic magnetic fields for infrared photons at room temperature. Our implementation corresponds to a spin-orbit Hamiltonian, uses linear optics and does not break time reversal symmetry. I discuss the observation of edge states for light in a two-dimensional system and its robustness against intrinsic and introduced disorders, as proof of topological order. Furthermore, I will consider the strong photon-photon interactions regime, which enables the potential realization of fractional quantum Hall states, in the non-equilibrium pumped regime, relevant for the photonic systems.

sig. Gianni Blatter

********************************* ETH Zurich Denise Pin Institute for Theoretical Physics HIT K 13.2 Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 27 8093 Zurich Switzerland Tel. + 41 44 633 25 74 Fax + 41 44 633 11 15 www.itp.phys.ethz.ch