Bo Zhen

Observation of trapped light within the radiation continuum.

The ability to confine light is important both scientifically and technologically. Many light confinement methods exist, but they all achieve confinement with materials or systems that forbid outgoing waves. These systems can be implemented by metallic mirrors, by photonic band-gap materials, by highly disordered media (Anderson localization) and, for a subset of outgoing waves, by translational symmetry (total internal reflection) or by rotational or reflection symmetry. Exceptions to these examples exist only in theoretical proposals. Here we predict and show experimentally that light can be perfectly confined in a patterned dielectric slab, even though outgoing waves are allowed in the surrounding medium. Technically, this is an observation of an ‘embedded eigenvalue’—namely, a bound state in a continuum of radiation modes—that is not due to symmetry incompatibility. Such a bound state can exist stably in a general class of geometries in which all of its radiation amplitudes vanish simultaneously as a result of destructive interference. This method to trap electromagnetic waves is also applicable to electronic and mechanical waves.

Spawning rings of exceptional points out of dirac cones

The Dirac cone underlies many unique electronic properties of graphene and topological insulators, and its band structure—two conical bands touching at a single point—has also been realized for photons in waveguide arrays, atoms in optical lattices, and through accidental degeneracy. Deformation of the Dirac cone often reveals intriguing properties; an example is the quantum Hall effect, where a constant magnetic field breaks the Dirac cone into isolated Landau levels. A seemingly unrelated phenomenon is the exceptional point, also known as the parity–time symmetry breaking point, where two resonances coincide in both their positions and widths. Exceptional points lead to counter-intuitive phenomena such as loss-induced transparency, unidirectional transmission or reflection, and lasers with reversed pump dependence or single-mode operation. Dirac cones and exceptional points are connected: it was theoretically suggested that certain non-Hermitian perturbations can deform a Dirac cone and spawn a ring of exceptional points. Here we experimentally demonstrate such an ‘exceptional ring’ in a photonic crystal slab. Angle-resolved reflection measurements of the photonic crystal slab reveal that the peaks of reflectivity follow the conical band structure of a Dirac cone resulting from accidental degeneracy, whereas the complex eigenvalues of the system are deformed into a two-dimensional flat band enclosed by an exceptional ring. This deformation arises from the dissimilar radiation rates of dipole and quadrupole resonances, which play a role analogous to the loss and gain in parity–time symmetric systems. Our results indicate that the radiation existing in any open system can fundamentally alter its physical properties in ways previously expected only in the presence of material loss and gain.

Transparent displays enabled by resonant nanoparticle scattering

We create a transparent display by projecting monochromatic images onto a polymer film embedded with nanoparticles that selectively scatter light at the projected wavelength. This approach features simplicity, wide viewing angle, scalability, and low cost.

Topological nature of optical bound states in the continuum.

Optical bound states in the continuum (BICs) have recently been realized in photonic crystal slabs, where the disappearance of out-of-plane radiation turns leaky resonances into guided modes with infinite lifetimes. We show that such BICs are vortex centers in the polarization directions of far-field radiation. They carry conserved and quantized topological charges, defined by the winding number of the polarization vectors, which ensure their robust existence and govern their generation, evolution, and annihilation. Our findings connect robust BICs in photonics to a wide range of topological physical phenomena.

Shrinking light to allow forbidden transitions on the atomic scale

Making the forbidden allowed Spontaneous emission, in which an excited electron lowers its energy by emitting a photon, is a fundamental process in light-matter interactions. In principle, the electron can relax from the excited state to any unoccupied lower energy level. In practice, however, most of these transitions are too slow and so are effectively forbidden. Rivera et al. show theoretically that the plasmonic excitations associated with two-dimensional materials can be used to enhance and control the light-matter interaction. Transitions that were once considered forbidden can thus be accessed, opening up the entire spectrum of an optical emitter. Science, this issue p. 263 The emission spectrum of an optical emitter can be enhanced by coupling to two-dimensional materials. The diversity of light-matter interactions accessible to a system is limited by the small size of an atom relative to the wavelength of the light it emits, as well as by the small value of the fine-structure constant. We developed a general theory of light-matter interactions with two-dimensional systems supporting plasmons. These plasmons effectively make the fine-structure constant larger and bridge the size gap between atom and light. This theory reveals that conventionally forbidden light-matter interactions—such as extremely high-order multipolar transitions, two-plasmon spontaneous emission, and singlet-triplet phosphorescence processes—can occur on very short time scales comparable to those of conventionally fast transitions. Our findings may lead to new platforms for spectroscopy, sensing, and broadband light generation, a potential testing ground for quantum electrodynamics (QED) in the ultrastrong coupling regime, and the ability to take advantage of the full electronic spectrum of an emitter.

Spawning Rings of Exceptional Points out of Dirac Cones

We demonstrate that an accidental Dirac cone can evolve into a ring of exceptional points in a photonic crystal slab. Radiation fundamentally changes the band structure even though there is no material loss or gain.

Enabling enhanced emission and low-threshold lasing of organic molecules using special Fano resonances of macroscopic photonic crystals

The nature of light interaction with matter can be dramatically altered in optical cavities, often inducing nonclassical behavior. In solid-state systems, excitons need to be spatially incorporated within nanostructured cavities to achieve such behavior. Although fascinating phenomena have been observed with inorganic nanostructures, the incorporation of organic molecules into the typically inorganic cavity is more challenging. Here, we present a unique optofluidic platform comprising organic molecules in solution suspended on a photonic crystal surface, which supports macroscopic Fano resonances and allows strong and tunable interactions with the molecules anywhere along the surface. We develop a theoretical framework of this system and present a rigorous comparison with experimental measurements, showing dramatic spectral and angular enhancement of emission. We then demonstrate that these enhancement mechanisms enable lasing of only a 100-nm thin layer of diluted solution of organic molecules with substantially reduced threshold intensity, which has important implications for organic light-emitting devices and molecular sensing.

Observation of bulk Fermi arc and polarization half charge from paired exceptional points

Exploring photonic topology Scattering topological effects are being explored in a variety of electronic and optical materials systems owing to their robustness against defects (see the Perspective by Özdemir). Yang et al. designed and fabricated an ideal optical analog of a three-dimensional Weyl system. Angular transmission measurements revealed four Weyl points at the same energy, as well as the signature helicoidal arcs associated with such an exotic topological system. Zhou et al. theoretically proposed and experimentally demonstrated the formation of a topologically protected bulk Fermi arc. They attributed the formation of the arc to the topological nature of paired exceptional points (points at which gain and loss in the system are matched). Photonic crystals may provide a powerful platform for studying exotic properties of topological electronic systems and may also be used to develop optical devices that exploit topological properties of light-matter interactions. Science, this issue p. 1013, p. 1009; see also p. 995 Photonic crystals provide a powerful platform to study topological effects in non-Hermitian systems. The ideas of topology have found tremendous success in closed physical systems, but even richer properties exist in the more general open or dissipative framework. We theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate a bulk Fermi arc that develops from non-Hermitian radiative losses in an open system of photonic crystal slabs. Moreover, we discover half-integer topological charges in the polarization of far-field radiation around the bulk Fermi arc. Both phenomena are shown to be direct consequences of the non-Hermitian topological properties of exceptional points, where resonances coincide in their frequencies and linewidths. Our work connects the fields of topological photonics, non-Hermitian physics, and singular optics, providing a framework to explore more complex non-Hermitian topological systems.

Dynamically Encircling Exceptional Points: Exact Evolution and Polarization State Conversion

We show that a two-level non-Hermitian Hamiltonian with constant off-diagonal exchange elements can be analyzed exactly when the underlying exceptional point is perfectly encircled in the complex plane. The state evolution of this system is explicitly obtained in terms of an ensuing transfer matrix, even for large encirclements, regardless of adiabatic conditions. Our results clearly explain the direction-dependent nature of this process and why in the adiabatic limit its outcome is dominated by a specific eigenstate-irrespective of initial conditions. Moreover, numerical simulations suggest that this mechanism can still persist in the presence of nonlinear effects. We further show that this robust process can be harnessed to realize an optical omnipolarizer: a configuration that generates a desired polarization output regardless of the input polarization state, while from the opposite direction it always produces the counterpart eigenstate.

General theory of spontaneous emission near exceptional points

We present a general theory of spontaneous emission at exceptional points (EPs)-exotic degeneracies in non-Hermitian systems. Our theory extends beyond spontaneous emission to any light-matter interaction described by the local density of states (e.g., absorption, thermal emission, and nonlinear frequency conversion). Whereas traditional spontaneous-emission theories imply infinite enhancement factors at EPs, we derive finite bounds on the enhancement, proving maximum enhancement of 4 in passive systems with second-order EPs and significantly larger enhancements (exceeding 400×) in gain-aided and higher-order EP systems. In contrast to non-degenerate resonances, which are typically associated with Lorentzian emission curves in systems with low losses, EPs are associated with non-Lorentzian lineshapes, leading to enhancements that scale nonlinearly with the resonance quality factor. Our theory can be applied to dispersive media, with proper normalization of the resonant modes.