We map the topological properties of a one dimensional superlattice to the optical properties of an electronic system. We find that the nonlinear-optical response is optimized for electrons that live in the transitional morphology between topologically protected edge states and delocalized eigenstates. This provides a novel means of tuning the nonlinear-optical response of hybrid quantum systems. We show how these characteristics can be used to mimic saturable absorption and illustrate how `quantum cords' can be used to build an efficient all-optical switch.
@article{arxiv.2003.08465,
title = {Topological control of the nonlinear-optical response of hybrid quantum systems},
author = {Ethan L. Crowell and Mark G. Kuzyk},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.08465},
year = {2020}
}