Synthetic Gauge Field Photonics

This Special Topic focuses on synthetic gauge fields, which enable uncharged particles to behave as if affected by external fields. Generated by geometry or modulation, synthetic gauge fields allow us to endow systems with a wide range of intriguing features that are naturally not expected in them. As such, they are particularly instrumental in realizing synthetic magnetic effects in photonics, which is the basis for novel waveguiding mechanisms and topological phenomena. Fundamentally, synthetic gauge field photonics opens the door to explore new physics, and from an applications point of view it facilitates new devices by enabling control over light dynamics in new ways.

Guest Editors: Miguel Bandres, Andrey Sukhorukov, Oded Zilberberg, and APL Photonics Associate Editor Alexander Szameit.