Impact Factor: 9.313

ISI Journal Citation Reports © Ranking: 2013: 3/83 (Optics); 9/67 (Physics Condensed Matter); 10/136 (Physics Applied)

In this paper, we reported the following innovations:

1. The mechanism of forming the honeycomb optical lattice is very different in the atomic vapor medium, as compared to the one used in waveguide arrays in fused silica. It is quite novel to design such an optical lattice with necessary helical structure in a multi-level atomic system.
2. Investigating PFTI in an atomic assemble, apart from presenting a new topological insulator, has its special advantages, since the optical lattice written in an atomic assemble is reconfigurable and can be dynamically tuned. So, more detailed, novel, and interesting effects of PFTIs can be studied in such multi-level atomic systems.
3. Influence of high-order nonlinearity on formation of PFTI is also investigated. We find that the third-order nonlinearity will shut off the formation, while the fifth-order nonlinearity can re-open the formtion. We believe that we discover this phenomenon for the first time.
4. The formation of PFTI, as well as the tuning/manipulation, are all done all-optical.