Universal sign control of coupling in tight-binding lattices

Keil, Robert and Poli, Charles Joseph and Heinrich, Matthias and Arkinstall, Jake and Weihs, Gregor and Schomerus, Henning and Szameit, Alexander (2016) Universal sign control of coupling in tight-binding lattices. Physical review letters, 116 (21): 213901. ISSN 1079-7114

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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.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Physical review letters
Additional Information:
© 2016 American Physical Society
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3100
Subjects:
?? physics and astronomy(all) ??
ID Code:
79848
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
03 Jun 2016 15:20
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
31 Dec 2023 00:42