Topology of far-field signals for photonic crystal slabs

Abstract

The study of band topology in photonic crystals was primarily focused on near-field effects, including edge states and high-order corner states. However, this work investigated the polarization distribution of radiated fields for photonic crystal slabs to get their far-field properties of band topology. We introduced a topological invariant—the winding number of far-field polarization around the Brillouin zone boundary and confirmed a robust correspondence between it and the Chern number of energy bands from the perspective of symmetry, which can be used to analyze the process of topological phase transition. It is found that changes in the winding number and Chern number, associated with the exchange of far-field polarization singularities, especially for bound states in the continuum, will emerge during phase transition. These findings offer insights for further understanding the intriguing properties of topological materials.