Final Report Summary - HONEYPOL (Polariton networks: from honeycomb lattices to artificial gauge fields)
Graphene is a monoatomic layer material with extraordinary transport properties. The reason is its hexagonal (honeycomb) lattice, in which electrons behave as massless particles. Bringing these properties to photonic systems would provide a new playground for the engineering of the optical properties. Moreover, photonic systems can be easily manipulated during the fabrication process permitting the engineering of lattices with intricate properties. The ERC StG Honeypol project has brought the physics of graphene to the photonics realm via the fabrication of honeycomb lattices of semiconductor microresonators. The possibility of manipulating each site of the lattice along with the direct access to their properties in photoluminescensce experiments turns this system in a remarkable photonic simulator of solid-state physics. Among the most remarkable results of the Honeypol project we can mention the discovery of new orbital bands in the honeycomb lattice, the implementation of Landau levels for photons and the observation of lasing in topological edge states in a variety of photonic lattices.
Our results have unveiled a whole new universe of distinct photonic phenomena emerging from the interplay of lattice geometry, losses, and photonic nonlinearities.
Our results have unveiled a whole new universe of distinct photonic phenomena emerging from the interplay of lattice geometry, losses, and photonic nonlinearities.