Topology describes properties that remain unaffected by smooth distortions. Its main hallmark is the emergence of edge states localized at the boundary between regions characterized by distinct topological invariants. This feature offers new opportunities for robust trapping of light in nanoand micro-meter scale systems subject to fabrication imperfections and to environmentally induced deformations. Here we show lasing in such topological edge states of a one-dimensional lattice of polariton micropillars that implements an orbital version of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger Hamiltonian. We further demonstrate that lasing in these states persists under local deformations of the lattice. These results open the way to the implementation of chiral lasers in systems with broken time-reversal symmetry and, when combined with polariton interactions, to the study of nonlinear topological photonics.Topological phase transitions in condensed matter have been extensively studied over the last decade. A key manifestation of these transitions is the emergence, at the frontier between materials exhibiting distinct topological phases, of localized states that are unaffected by disorder. One example of this topological protection is provided by chiral edge states at the surface of topological insulators that allow unidirectional transport immune to backscattering 1 .Initially proposed by Haldane and Raghu 2 , the idea of extending these topological arguments to the realm of photonics has recently triggered considerable efforts to engineer optical devices that are unaffected by local perturbations and fabrication defects 3 . For example, topological properties have been used to create polarizationdependent unidirectional waveguides 4 , optical delay lines with enhanced transport properties 5 , backscatteringimmune chiral edge states 6-9 , and protected bound states in parity-time-symmetric crystals 10,11 .The emergence of edge states at the boundary between materials with distinct topological invariants provides an efficient way to create localized photonic modes whose existence is protected by topology 9 . Lasing in these kind of modes would then be robust against fabrication defects, local deformations caused by temperature or other unstable ambient conditions, and long term degradation, all of which would eventually result in the modification of the local optical potential 12 . The main difficulty that has prevented the observation of lasing in topological modes is the need to implement topological lattices in media exhibiting optical gain. In this sense, microcavity polaritons, mixed quasiparticules formed from the strong coupling between cavity photons and quantum well excitons 13 , provide a unique platform: they allow for low-threshold lasing 14,15 , even at room temperature 16,17 , and the engineering of topological properties in lattices of resonators 18,19 .In this work we report lasing in topological edge states of a 1D lattice of coupled semiconductor micropillars. The lattice implements an orbital version of the Su-Schrieff...

Two-dimensional lattices of coupled micropillars etched in a planar semiconductor microcavity offer a workbench to engineer the band structure of polaritons. We report experimental studies of honeycomb lattices where the polariton low-energy dispersion is analogous to that of electrons in graphene. Using energy-resolved photoluminescence, we directly observe Dirac cones, around which the dynamics of polaritons is described by the Dirac equation for massless particles. At higher energies, we observe p orbital bands, one of them with the nondispersive character of a flatband. The realization of this structure which holds massless, massive, and infinitely massive particles opens the route towards studies of the interplay of dispersion, interactions, and frustration in a novel and controlled environment.

Bright sources of indistinguishable single photons are strongly needed for the scalability of quantum information processing. Semiconductor quantum dots are promising systems to build such sources. Several works demonstrated emission of indistinguishable photons while others proposed various approaches to efficiently collect them. Here we combine both properties and report on the fabrication of ultrabright sources of indistinguishable single photons, thanks to deterministic positioning of single quantum dots in well-designed pillar cavities. Brightness as high as 0.79±0.08 collected photon per pulse is demonstrated. The indistinguishability of the photons is investigated as a function of the source brightness and the excitation conditions. We show that a two-laser excitation scheme allows reducing the fluctuations of the quantum dot electrostatic environment under high pumping conditions. With this method, we obtain 82 ± 10% indistinguishability for a brightness as large as 0.65 ± 0.06 collected photon per pulse.

We report on the engineering of a non-dispersive (flat) energy band in a geometrically frustrated lattice of micro-pillar optical cavities. By taking advantage of the non-hermitian nature of our system, we achieve bosonic condensation of exciton-polaritons into the flat band. Due to the infinite effective mass in such band, the condensate is highly sensitive to disorder and fragments into localized modes reflecting the elementary eigenstates produced by geometric frustration. This realization offers a novel approach to studying coherent phases of light and matter under the controlled interplay of frustration, interactions and dissipation.