Non-Hermitian metasurface with non-trivial topology

The synergy between topology and non-Hermiticity in photonics holds immense potential for next-generation optical devices that are robust against defects. However, most demonstrations of non-Hermitian and topological photonics have been limited to super-wavelength scales due to increased radiative losses at the deep-subwavelength scale. By carefully designing radiative losses at the nanoscale, we demonstrate a non-Hermitian plasmonic-dielectric metasurface in the visible with non-trivial topology. The metasurface is based on a fourth order passive parity-time symmetric system. The designed device exhibits an exceptional concentric ring in its momentum space and is described by a Hamiltonian with a non-Hermitian $$ topological invariant of V = -1. Fabricated devices are characterized using Fourier-space imaging for single-shot k-space measurements. Our results demonstrate a way to combine topology and non-Hermitian nanophotonics for designing robust devices with novel functionalities.