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Topological photonics

A rendezvous with light

Topological localization of photons in both space and time has now been experimentally realized through synthetic photonic quantum walks, enabled by non-Hermitian gain–loss modulations. This investigation into time and space-time topology reveals unique phenomena beyond conventional spatial topological effects, including causality-suppressed coupling.

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Fig. 1: Topological localizations along both space and time.

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Correspondence to Romain Fleury.

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Zhang, Z., Fleury, R. A rendezvous with light. Nat. Photon. 19, 441–442 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01664-7

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