Topological Event Wavepackets in Energy‐Momentum‐Gapped Photonic Spacetime Crystals

ABSTRACT We propose a new type of topological excitations—topological event wavepackets (TEWs)—that emerge in photonic spacetime crystals (STCs) with spatiotemporally modulated permittivity. TEWs exhibit strong spatiotemporal localization and are topologically protected by a fully opened energy‐momentum () gap, in which steady propagating states are absent. Spectrally confined within this gap, TEWs can serve as a probe for identifying the gap extent. To reveal the underlying topological mechanism, we define a spacetime winding number. In contrast to previously reported nonlinearity‐induced event solitons in STCs, TEWs originate in linear media from the topological configuration, making them more accessible and versatile for experimental realization. Finally, by periodically weaving TEWs into an event lattice, we demonstrate a controllable delay and mitigation of noise‐driven amplification within the ‐gap. Our findings open a new pathway toward topological control in photonic spacetime‐modulated systems, enabling ‐gap band engineering for wave manipulation ranging from microwave to optical regimes.

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Publication Details

Journal
Laser & Photonics Review
Published
2026-03-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/lpor.202502603
Primary Topic
Topological Materials and Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Topological Event Wavepackets in Energy‐Momentum‐Gapped Photonic Spacetime Crystals

Zirui Zhao, Qin Cheng, Liang Zhang, Chenhao Pan et al.
Laser & Photonics Review
Topological Materials and Phenomena
article

Topological Event Wavepackets in Energy‐Momentum‐Gapped Photonic Spacetime Crystals

Zirui Zhao, Qin Cheng, Liang Zhang, Chenhao Pan, Yiming Pan, Qiaofei Pan
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT We propose a new type of topological excitations—topological event wavepackets (TEWs)—that emerge in photonic spacetime crystals (STCs) with spatiotemporally modulated permittivity. TEWs exhibit strong spatiotemporal localization and are topologically protected by a fully opened energy‐momentum () gap, in which steady propagating states are absent. Spectrally confined within this gap, TEWs can serve as a probe for identifying the gap extent. To reveal the underlying topological mechanism, we define a spacetime winding number. In contrast to previously reported nonlinearity‐induced event solitons in STCs, TEWs originate in linear media from the topological configuration, making them more accessible and versatile for experimental realization. Finally, by periodically weaving TEWs into an event lattice, we demonstrate a controllable delay and mitigation of noise‐driven amplification within the ‐gap. Our findings open a new pathway toward topological control in photonic spacetime‐modulated systems, enabling ‐gap band engineering for wave manipulation ranging from microwave to optical regimes.

Laser & Photonics Review
Tongji University (CN), University of Shanghai for Science and Technology (CN), ShanghaiTech University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 20%
Topological Materials and Phenomena
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