Getting topological photonics out of the laboratory

Bo Zhen (Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania), Andrea Blanco Redondo (Head of Silicon Photonics, Nokia Bell Labs), Alexander Szameit (Professor of Physics, University of Rostock), and Patrice Genevet (research scientist in photonics, Centre de recherche sur l’hétéro-épitaxie et ses applications, CNRS) talked to Nature Communications about the opportunities and challenges in the integration of topological photonics systems into real-world devices as well as envision new functionalities, but from a practical perspective.