Visualization of a Unidirectional Electromagnetic Waveguide Using Topological Photonic Crystals Made of Dielectric Materials

We demonstrate experimentally that a photonic crystal made of Al2O3 cylinders exhibits topological time--reversal symmetric electromagnetic propagation, similar to the quantum spin Hall effect in electronic systems. A pseudospin degree of freedom in the electromagnetic system representing different states of orbital angular momentum arises due to a deformation of the photonic crystal from the ideal honeycomb lattice. It serves as the photonic analogue to the electronic Kramers pair. We visualized qualitatively and measured quantitatively that microwaves of a specific pseudospin propagate only in one direction along the interface between a topological photonic crystal and a trivial one. As only a conventional dielectric material is used and only local real--space manipulations are required, our scheme can be extended to visible light to inspire many future applications in the field of photonics and beyond.