Giant Interatomic Energy-transport Amplification with Nonreciprocal Photonic Topological Insulators
Résumé
We show that the energy-transport efficiency in a chain of two-level emitters can be drastically enhanced
by the presence of a photonic topological insulator (PTI). This is obtained by exploiting the peculiar
properties of its nonreciprocal surface plasmon polariton (SPP), which is unidirectional, and immune to
backscattering, and propagates in the bulk band gap. This amplification of transport efficiency can be as
much as 2 orders of magnitude with respect to reciprocal SPPs. Moreover, we demonstrate that despite the
presence of considerable imperfections at the interface of the PTI, the efficiency of the SPP-assisted energy
transport is almost unaffected by discontinuities. We also show that the SPP properties allow energy
transport over considerably much larger distances than in the reciprocal case, and we point out a
particularly simple way to tune the transport. Finally, we analyze the specific case of a two-emitter chain
and unveil the origin of the efficiency amplification. The efficiency amplification and the practical
advantages highlighted in this work might be particularly useful in the development of new devices
intended to manage energy at the atomic scale.