Nonlinear topological photonics: capturing nonlinear dynamics and optical thermodynamics

Wong, Stephan, Cerjan, Alexander, Makris, Konstantinos, Khajavikhan, Mercedeh, Christodoulides, Demetrios and Oh, Sang Soon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3093-7016 2025. Nonlinear topological photonics: capturing nonlinear dynamics and optical thermodynamics. ACS Photonics 10.1021/acsphotonics.4c02430

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Abstract

Combining multiple optical resonators or engineering dispersion of complex media has provided an effective method for demonstrating topological physics controlling photons in unprecedented ways such as unidirectional light propagation and spatially localized modes between an interface or on a corner. Further, adding nonlinear responses to those topological photonic systems has enabled achieving diverse phases of photons in both space and time, allowing for more functionalities in photonic devices that provide a new playground for studying dynamic features of nonlinear topological systems. However, most methods for describing nonlinear topological photonic systems rely on linear topological theories, making it challenging to accurately characterize the topology of nonlinear systems. Thus, substantial efforts have focused on rigorously describing nonlinear topological phases and developing effective tools to analyze nonlinear topological effects. Meanwhile, coupled multimode optical waveguides with nonlinear dynamic responses provide an excellent platform for the statistical description of photons, opening a new paradigm called “optical thermodynamics”. This review will introduce the basic concepts of nonlinear topological photonics and the recent development of theoretical approaches focusing on data-driven approaches for creating phase diagrams as well as the spectral localizer framework and the pseudospectrum method for understanding optical nonlinearities in topological systems. In addition, the new concept of optical thermodynamics will be introduced with some recent theoretical works.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Subjects:	Q Science > QC Physics
Publisher:	American Chemical Society
ISSN:	2330-4022
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	23 April 2025
Date of Acceptance:	14 April 2025
Last Modified:	20 May 2025 11:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/177843

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