Optical Zitterbewegung effect in arrays of helical waveguides

Owing to its topological properties and band collapse, Floquet helical photonic lattices have gained increasing attention as a purely classical setting to realize the optical analogues of a wide variety of quantum phenomena. We demonstrate both theoretically and numerically that light propagation in...

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Main Authors: Zhan Kaiyun, Chen Qixuan, Zhang Qian, Zhao Tingjun, Qin Hanqiang, He Haolong, Yao Guangting
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: De Gruyter 2024-09-01
Series:Nanophotonics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2024-0329
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author Zhan Kaiyun
Chen Qixuan
Zhang Qian
Zhao Tingjun
Qin Hanqiang
He Haolong
Yao Guangting
author_facet Zhan Kaiyun
Chen Qixuan
Zhang Qian
Zhao Tingjun
Qin Hanqiang
He Haolong
Yao Guangting
author_sort Zhan Kaiyun
collection DOAJ
description Owing to its topological properties and band collapse, Floquet helical photonic lattices have gained increasing attention as a purely classical setting to realize the optical analogues of a wide variety of quantum phenomena. We demonstrate both theoretically and numerically that light propagation in an appropriately designed helical superlattice can exhibit spatial photonic Zitterbewegung effect, i.e., a quiver spatial oscillatory motion of the beam center of mass around its mean trajectory, in both one- and two-dimensional cases. The lattice spacing determines the effective coupling strength between adjacent helical waveguides, and further drastically not only affects the oscillation amplitude and frequency, but also invert their direction of drift when the effective coupling strength is tuned from positive to negative. Complete arrest and inversion of the drift direction of Zitterbewegung effect are reported.
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institution OA Journals
issn 2192-8614
language English
publishDate 2024-09-01
publisher De Gruyter
record_format Article
series Nanophotonics
spelling doaj-art-33d8d69916604eebab173b93072c780d2025-08-20T02:14:10ZengDe GruyterNanophotonics2192-86142024-09-0113234267427310.1515/nanoph-2024-0329Optical Zitterbewegung effect in arrays of helical waveguidesZhan Kaiyun0Chen Qixuan1Zhang Qian2Zhao Tingjun3Qin Hanqiang4He Haolong5Yao Guangting6College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao266580, ChinaCollege of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao266580, ChinaCollege of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao266580, ChinaCollege of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao266580, ChinaCollege of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao266580, ChinaCollege of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao266580, ChinaCollege of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao266580, ChinaOwing to its topological properties and band collapse, Floquet helical photonic lattices have gained increasing attention as a purely classical setting to realize the optical analogues of a wide variety of quantum phenomena. We demonstrate both theoretically and numerically that light propagation in an appropriately designed helical superlattice can exhibit spatial photonic Zitterbewegung effect, i.e., a quiver spatial oscillatory motion of the beam center of mass around its mean trajectory, in both one- and two-dimensional cases. The lattice spacing determines the effective coupling strength between adjacent helical waveguides, and further drastically not only affects the oscillation amplitude and frequency, but also invert their direction of drift when the effective coupling strength is tuned from positive to negative. Complete arrest and inversion of the drift direction of Zitterbewegung effect are reported.https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2024-0329zitterbewegung effecthelical waveguidesfloquet engineering
spellingShingle Zhan Kaiyun
Chen Qixuan
Zhang Qian
Zhao Tingjun
Qin Hanqiang
He Haolong
Yao Guangting
Optical Zitterbewegung effect in arrays of helical waveguides
Nanophotonics
zitterbewegung effect
helical waveguides
floquet engineering
title Optical Zitterbewegung effect in arrays of helical waveguides
title_full Optical Zitterbewegung effect in arrays of helical waveguides
title_fullStr Optical Zitterbewegung effect in arrays of helical waveguides
title_full_unstemmed Optical Zitterbewegung effect in arrays of helical waveguides
title_short Optical Zitterbewegung effect in arrays of helical waveguides
title_sort optical zitterbewegung effect in arrays of helical waveguides
topic zitterbewegung effect
helical waveguides
floquet engineering
url https://doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2024-0329
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AT chenqixuan opticalzitterbewegungeffectinarraysofhelicalwaveguides
AT zhangqian opticalzitterbewegungeffectinarraysofhelicalwaveguides
AT zhaotingjun opticalzitterbewegungeffectinarraysofhelicalwaveguides
AT qinhanqiang opticalzitterbewegungeffectinarraysofhelicalwaveguides
AT hehaolong opticalzitterbewegungeffectinarraysofhelicalwaveguides
AT yaoguangting opticalzitterbewegungeffectinarraysofhelicalwaveguides