Universal Sign Control of Coupling in Tight-Binding Lattices

Robert Keil, Charles Poli, Matthias Heinrich, Jake Arkinstall, Gregor Weihs, Henning Schomerus, and Alexander Szameit
Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 213901 – Published 27 May 2016

Abstract

We present a method of locally inverting the sign of the coupling term in tight-binding systems, by means of inserting a judiciously designed ancillary site and eigenmode matching of the resulting vertex triplet. Our technique can be universally applied to all lattice configurations, as long as the individual sites can be detuned. We experimentally verify this method in laser-written photonic lattices and confirm both the magnitude and the sign of the coupling by interferometric measurements. Based on these findings, we demonstrate how such universal sign-flipped coupling links can be embedded into extended lattice structures to impose a Z2-gauge transformation. This opens a new avenue for investigations on topological effects arising from magnetic fields with aperiodic flux patterns or in disordered systems.

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  • Received 3 December 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.213901

© 2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

Robert Keil1,*, Charles Poli2, Matthias Heinrich3, Jake Arkinstall2, Gregor Weihs1, Henning Schomerus2, and Alexander Szameit3

  • 1Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
  • 2Department of Physics, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YB, United Kingdom
  • 3Institute of Applied Physics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena, Germany

  • *robert.keil@uibk.ac.at

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Issue

Vol. 116, Iss. 21 — 27 May 2016

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