Definite photon deflections of topological defects in metasurfaces and symmetry-breaking phase transitions with material loss

Combination of topology and general relativity can lead to some profound and farsighted predictions. It is well known that symmetry breaking of the Higgs vacuum field in the early universe possibly induced topological defects in space-time, whose nontrivial effects can provide some clues about the universe’s origin. Here, by using an artificial waveguide bounded with rotational metasurface, the nontrivial effects of a topological defect of spacetime are experimentally emulated. The photon deflection in the topological waveguide has a robust definite angle that does not depend on the location and momentum of incident photons. This is remarkably different from the random optical scattering in trivial space. By including material loss such a topological effect can be well understood from the symmetry breaking of photonic modes. Our technique provides a platform to investigate topological gravity in optical systems. This method can also be extended to obtain many other novel topological photonic devices. Photonic structures can be used to simulate fundamental physical phenomena like the optical analog of gravity. Here, the authors use metasurface-engineered waveguides to emulate the optical effects of a topological defect on space-time.