Invited Article: Topological crystalline protection in a photonic system

Abstract

Topological crystalline insulators are a class of materials with a bulk energy gap and edge or surface modes, which are protected by crystalline symmetry, at their boundaries. They have been realized in electronic systems: in particular, in SnTe. In this work, we propose a mechanism to realize photonic boundary states topologically protected by crystalline symmetry. We map this one-dimensional system to a two-dimensional lattice model with opposite magnetic fields, as well as opposite Chern numbers in its even and odd mirror parity subspaces, thus corresponding to a topological mirror insulator. Furthermore, we test the robustness of the boundary modes depending on their mirror parity by performing time dependent evolution simulations in a photonic setting with realistic experimental parameters.