Topological photonics and photonic crystal lasers

After 25 years of their discovery, photonic crystals continue to provide new fundamental physics as well as novel potential applications. In this talk, I will give examples of both. 

Scientifically, photonic crystals will be an important playground for Bosonic “topological insulators/semimetals“. Quite some examples have already been demonstrated. I will discuss the 2D Quantum Hall state of light, and how 3D Weyl points and line nodes are realized in gyroid photonic crystals along with their phase diagrams and topologically nontrivial interfacial states.

Technologically, 2D photonic crystal nanocavities are important for on-chip lasers and single-photon sources. Furthermore, 2D broad-area semiconductor lasers provide higher power and richer functionalities than current chip-scale single-mode sources of DFB lasers and VCSELs, which are both essentially 1D photonic crystal lasers.