Optical snake states in a photonic graphene
O. M. Bahrova, S. V. Koniakhin, Anton V. Nalitov, E. D. Cherotchenko · Optics Letters · 2024
We propose an optical analog of electron snake states based on an artificial gauge magnetic field in a photonic graphene implemented by varying distances between cavity pillars. We develop an intuitive and exhaustive continuous model based on tight-binding approximation and compare it with numerical simulations of a realistic photonic structure. The allowed lateral propagation direction is shown to be strongly coupled to the valley degree of freedom, and the proposed photonic structure may be used as a valley filter.