Observation of Topological Band Gap Solitons

Topological materials exhibit properties dictated by quantised invariants that make them robust against perturbations. This topological protection is a universal wave phenomenon that applies not only in the context of electrons in solid-state materials but also to photonic systems, ultracold atoms, mechanical systems, circuits, exciton-polaritons and beyond. However, the vast majority of research in these systems has focused on the linear domain, i.e., where inter-particle interactions do not play a role. Here, we experimentally observe solitons -- waves that propagate without changing shape as a result of nonlinearity -- in the bulk of a photonic Floquet topological insulator. These solitons exhibit fundamentally different behaviour than solitons in ordinary band gaps in that they execute cyclotron-like orbits that are associated with the topology of the lattice. Specifically, we employ a laser-written waveguide array with periodic variations along the waveguide axis that give rise to non-zero Floquet winding number, where the nonlinearity arises from the optical Kerr effect of the ambient glass. The effect described here is applicable to a range of bosonic systems due to its description by the focusing nonlinear Schrödinger equation, i.e., the Gross-Pitaevskii equation with attractive interactions.

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