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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Polarization-dependent topology in quantum emitter chains

Jonathan Sturm* and Adriana Pálffy†

  • Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Institute for Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics and Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany

  • *Contact author: jonathan.sturm@uni-wuerzburg.de
  • †Contact author: adriana.palffy-buss@uni-wuerzburg.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L032069 – Published 26 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/3t6s-fnsq

Abstract

The role of polarization in the topology of quantum emitter chains is investigated theoretically, whereby “polarization” refers to the transition dipole moments of the emitters. We show that, if the chain is zigzag-shaped, different topological phases can be realized by adjusting the polarization direction. It turns out that long-range dipole-dipole couplings weaken the bulk-boundary correspondence, but give rise to higher-order topological phases with four observable edge modes. We also demonstrate how the polarization orientation can be used to define an additional dimension and simulate a synthetic Chern insulator. Our findings open up a way to actively switch between various topological phases within a single arrangement of quantum emitters.

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Phys. Rev. Research 7, L032069– Published 26 September, 2025
  • Received 28 May 2025
  • Accepted 20 August 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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