Nature Communications (Feb 2019)

Topological non-Hermitian origin of surface Maxwell waves

  • Konstantin Y. Bliokh,
  • Daniel Leykam,
  • Max Lein,
  • Franco Nori

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08397-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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Electromagnetic surface waves, derived from Maxwell theory, underpin many optical effects and applications. Here, Bliokh et al. show that surface waves at interfaces between isotropic media have a topological origin described by the non-Hermitian helicity operator and bulk-boundary correspondence.