Artificial material protects light states on smallest length scales

Light not only plays a key role as an information carrier for optical computer chips, particularly for the next generation of quantum computers. Its lossless guidance around sharp corners on tiny chips and the precise control of its interaction with other light are the focus of research worldwide. Scientists at Paderborn University have now demonstrated the spatial confinement of a light wave to a point smaller than the wavelength in a topological photonic crystal. These are artificial electromagnetic materials that facilitate robust manipulation of light. The state is protected by special properties and is important for quantum chips, for example. The findings have now been published in Science Advances.