Authors
Tong Fu, Ruo-Yang Zhang, Shiqi Jia, CT Chan, Shubo Wang
Publication date
2024/6/7
Journal
Physical Review Letters
Volume
132
Issue
23
Pages
233801
Publisher
American Physical Society
Description
The Chern number has been widely used to describe the topological properties of periodic structures in momentum space. Here, we introduce a real-space spin Chern number for the optical near fields of finite-sized structures. This new spin Chern number is intrinsically quantized and equal to the structure’s Euler characteristic. The relationship is robust against continuous deformation of the structure’s geometry and is irrelevant to the specific material constituents or external excitation. Our Letter enriches topological physics by extending the Chern number to real space, opening exciting possibilities for exploring the real-space topological properties of light.
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