Observation of trapped light within the radiation continuum

The ability to confine light is important both scientifically and technologically. Many light confinement methods exist, but they all achieve confinement with materials or systems that forbid outgoing waves. These systems can be implemented by metallic mirrors, by photonic band-gap materials, by highly disordered media (Anderson localization) and, for a subset of outgoing waves, by translational symmetry (total internal reflection) or by rotational or reflection symmetry. Exceptions to these examples exist only in theoretical proposals. Here we predict and show experimentally that light can be perfectly confined in a patterned dielectric slab, even though outgoing waves are allowed in the surrounding medium. Technically, this is an observation of an ‘embedded eigenvalue’—namely, a bound state in a continuum of radiation modes—that is not due to symmetry incompatibility. Such a bound state can exist stably in a general class of geometries in which all of its radiation amplitudes vanish simultaneously as a result of destructive interference. This method to trap electromagnetic waves is also applicable to electronic and mechanical waves.United States. Army Research Office (Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies under contract no. W911NF-07-D0004)United States. Department of Energy (grant no. DE-SC0001299)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF grant no. DMR-0819762

Experimental observation of a polarization vortex at an optical bound state in the continuum

Optical bound states in the continuum (BICs) are states supported by a photonic structure that are compatible with free-space radiation, yet become perfectly bound for one specific in-plane momentum and wavelength. Recently, it was predicted that light radiated by such modes around the BIC momentum–frequency condition should display a vortex in its far-field polarization profile, making the BIC topologically protected. Here, we study a one-dimensional grating supporting a transverse magnetic mode with a BIC near 700 nm wavelength, verifying the existence of the BIC using reflection measurements, which show a vanishing reflection feature. Using k-space polarimetry, we measure the full polarization state of reflection around the BIC, highlighting the presence of a topological vortex. We use an electromagnetic dipole model to explain the observed BIC through destructive interference between two radiation channels, characteristic of a Friedrich–Wintgen-type BIC. Our findings shed light on the origin of BICs and verify their topological nature