Artificial gauge fields and dimensions in a polariton hofstadter ladder.

Abstract

Artificial gauge fields allow uncharged particles such as photons to mimic the behaviour of charged particles subjected to magnetic fields, providing a powerful platform to alter the effective dynamics and exploring topological physics. Topological exciton-polariton lasers have attracted considerable interest, but often require strong magnetic fields to realise propagating topological edge states. Here we experimentally realise the topological Hall effect in a micron-scale micropillar chain by using an artificial gauge field, exploiting the circular polarisation of polaritons as an artificial dimension. Careful rotational alignment of elliptical micropillars induces strictly polarisation-dependent edge-state propagation, demonstrating non-reciprocal transport of the polariton pseudospins. Our results demonstrate that the dimensionality limitation of topological interface states as well as requirements for strong external magnetic fields in coupled topological laser arrays can be overcome. Our results open new ways towards the implementation of topological polariton lattices and related optically active devices with additional artificial dimension.