Title: Topological Photon Transport in Programmable Photonic Processors via Discretized Evolution of Synthetic Magnetic Fields Show Chinese title

Title: 通过合成磁场离散演化实现可编程光子处理器中的拓扑光子传输

Abstract: Photons, unlike electrons, do not couple directly to magnetic fields, yet synthetic gauge fields can impart magnetic-like responses and enable topological transport. Discretized Floquet evolution provides a controlled route, where the time-ordered sequencing of non-commuting Hamiltonians imprints complex hopping phases and breaks time-reversal symmetry. However, stabilizing such driven dynamics and observing unambiguous topological signatures on a reconfigurable platform has remained challenging. Here we demonstrate synthetic gauge fields for light on a programmable photonic processor by implementing discretized Floquet drives that combine static and dynamic phases. This approach reveals hallmark features of topological transport: chiral circulation that reverses under drive inversion, flux-controlled interference with high visibility, and robust directional flow stabilized by maximizing the minimal Floquet quasi-energy gap. The dynamics are further characterized by a first-harmonic phase order parameter, whose per-period winding number quantifies angular drift and reverses sign with the drive order. These results establish discretized, gap-optimized Floquet evolution as a versatile and fully programmable framework for topological photonics, providing a compact route to engineer gauge fields, stabilize driven phases, and probe winding-number signatures of chiral transport. Show Chinese abstract

Abstract: 光子与电子不同，不直接与磁场耦合，但合成规范场可以赋予磁性响应并实现拓扑传输。离散化的弗洛凯演化提供了一种受控的途径，其中非对易哈密顿量的时间有序序列会引入复杂的跃迁相位并破坏时间反演对称性。然而，在可重构平台上稳定这种驱动动力学并观察明确的拓扑特征仍然具有挑战性。在这里，我们通过实现结合静态和动态相位的离散化弗洛凯驱动，在可编程光子处理器上展示了光的合成规范场。这种方法揭示了拓扑传输的标志性特征：在驱动反转下反转的螺旋循环、受通量控制的高可见度干涉以及通过最大化最小弗洛凯准能量间隙稳定的鲁棒方向流动。动力学进一步由一个一阶谐波相位序参数表征，其每周期的绕数量化了角漂移，并随着驱动顺序改变符号。这些结果确立了离散化、间隙优化的弗洛凯演化作为拓扑光子学的一种通用且完全可编程的框架，为工程规范场、稳定驱动相以及探测螺旋传输的绕数特征提供了一条紧凑的路径。