January 31, 2022
Yokohama National University
Tohoku University
Keio University
The University of Tokyo
In 2016, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for research that pioneered new electrical conduction physics in topological insulators. This concept also applies to light propagating through periodic structures and can potentially be applied to the behavior of light frequency combs. A team of researchers, including Armandas Balčytis (currently at RMIT University) and Professor Toshihiko Baba from Yokohama National University, Associate Professor Tomoki Ozawa from Tohoku University, Associate Professor Yasutomo Ota from Keio University, and Professor Satoshi Iwamoto from The University of Tokyo, has now succeeded in demonstrating for the first time a unique optical phenomenon in such frequency combs, known as a "synthetic dimension," using the global standard optical integrated platform "silicon photonics." This marks the first step toward realizing topological phenomena using synthetic dimensions and suggests that topological photonics could evolve from a purely physical research topic into a new element applicable to various optical components.
This research was published in Science Advances, a sister journal of Science, on January 28 (local time).
Please see below for the full press release.