Kai Wang

Non-Abelian gauge fields¹ provide a conceptual framework to describe particles having spins, underlying many phenomena in electrodynamics, condensed-matter physics^2,3 and particle physics^4,5. Lattice models⁶ of non-Abelian gauge fields allow us to understand their physical implications in extended systems. The theoretical importance of non-Abelian lattice gauge fields motivates their experimental synthesis and explorations^7,8,9. Photons are fundamental particles for which artificial gauge fields can be synthesized^{10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30}, yet the demonstration of non-Abelian lattice gauge fields for photons has not been achieved. Here we demonstrate SU(2) lattice gauge fields for photons in the synthetic frequency dimensions^31,32, a playground to study lattice physics in a scalable and programmable way. In our lattice model, we theoretically observe that homogeneous non-Abelian lattice gauge potentials induce Dirac cones at time-reversal-invariant momenta in the Brillouin zone. We experimentally confirm the presence of non-Abelian lattice gauge fields by two signatures: linear band crossings at the Dirac cones, and the associated direction reversal of eigenstate trajectories. We further demonstrate a non-Abelian scalar lattice gauge potential that lifts the degeneracies of the Dirac cones. Our results highlight the implications of non-Abelian lattice gauge fields in topological physics, and provide a starting point for demonstrations of emerging non-Abelian physics in the photonic synthetic dimensions. Our results may also benefit photonic technologies by providing controls of photon spins and pseudo-spins in topologically non-trivial ways³³.

We show that swallowtail catastrophe consisting of various-order non-Hermitian and Hermitian degeneracies naturally exists in the dynamics of two-mode driven-dissipative quadrature squeezing systems that break pseudo-Hermiciticy by judiciously engineered losses. We reveal that the swallowtail degeneracy structure enables nontrivial braiding of complex eigenvalues by looping around an exceptional line in the parameter space. Our findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the degeneracy geometry in two-mode driven-dissipative bosonic quadratic systems, opening pathways toward topologically nontrivial control of Gaussian states. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

We formulate a new conceptual approach for one-shot complete polarization state measurement with nanostructured metasurfaces applicable to classical light and multiphoton quantum states by drawing on the principles of generalized quantum measurements based on positive operator-valued measures. Accurate polarization reconstruction from a combination of photon counts or correlations from several diffraction orders is robust with respect to even strong fabrication inaccuracies, requiring only a single classical calibration of the metasurface transmission. Furthermore, this approach operates with a single metagrating without interleaving, allowing for a reduction in metasurface size while preserving high transmission efficiency and output beam quality. We theoretically obtained original metasurface designs, fabricated the metasurface from amorphous silicon nanostructures deposited on glass, and experimentally confirmed accurate polarization reconstruction of laser beams. We also anticipate robust operation under changes in environmental conditions, opening new possibilities for space-based imaging and satellite optics.

Convolution is an essential operation in signal and image processing and consumes most of the computing power in convolutional neural networks. Photonic convolution has the promise of addressing computational bottlenecks and outperforming electronic implementations. Performing photonic convolution in the synthetic frequency dimension, which harnesses the dynamics of light in the spectral degrees of freedom for photons, can lead to highly compact devices. Here, we experimentally realize convolution operations in the synthetic frequency dimension. Using a modulated ring resonator, we synthesize arbitrary convolution kernels using a predetermined modulation waveform with high accuracy. We demonstrate the convolution computation between input frequency combs and synthesized kernels. We also introduce the idea of an additive offset to broaden the kinds of kernels that can be implemented experimentally when the modulation strength is limited. Our work demonstrate the use of synthetic frequency dimension to efficiently encode data and implement computation tasks, leading to a compact and scalable photonic computation architecture.

The concept of synthetic dimensions in photonics provides a versatile platform in exploring multi-dimensional physics. Many of these physics are characterized by band structures in more than one dimensions. Existing efforts on band structure measurements in the photonic synthetic frequency dimension however are limited to either one-dimensional Brillouin zones or one-dimensional subsets of multi-dimensional Brillouin zones. Here we theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate a method to fully measure multi-dimensional band structures in the synthetic frequency dimension. We use a single photonic resonator under dynamical modulation to create a multi-dimensional synthetic frequency lattice. We show that the band structure of such a lattice over the entire multi-dimensional Brillouin zone can be measured by introducing a gauge potential into the lattice Hamiltonian. Using this method, we perform experimental measurements of two-dimensional band structures of a Hermitian and a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. The measurements reveal some of the general properties of point-gap topology of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian in more than one dimensions. Our results demonstrate experimental capabilities to fully characterize high-dimensional physical phenomena in the photonic synthetic frequency dimension.

The duality of space and time in Maxwell's equations has prompted interest in time boundaries and the accompanying temporal analog of spatial reflection and refraction. However, achieving observable time-boundary effects at optical frequencies in real materials is challenging. In this Letter, we demonstrate that time reflection and refraction can be observed in a two-band model centered around a nonzero reference energy. Our model can be physically implemented in the synthetic frequency dimension as a system of two coupled dynamically modulated ring resonators. We find that modulation at microwave frequencies is sufficient to observe time-boundary effects for optical waves in synthetic frequency dimension. Our Letter shows that implementing multiband models in synthetic dimensions opens a new avenue for further exploration of time boundaries.

Non-Abelian gauge fields give rise to nontrivial topological physics. Here we develop a scheme to create an arbitrary SU(2) lattice gauge field for photons in the synthetic frequency dimension using an array of dynamically modulated ring resonators. The photon polarization is taken as the spin basis to implement the matrix-valued gauge fields. Using a non-Abelian generalization of the Harper-Hofstadter Hamiltonian as a specific example, we show that the measurement of the steady-state photon amplitudes inside the resonators can reveal the band structures of the Hamiltonian, which show signatures of the underlying non-Abelian gauge field. These results provide opportunities to explore novel topological phenomena associated with non-Abelian lattice gauge fields in photonic systems.