A new concept for a unidirectional waveguide

In the past decade, a new type of material has attracted raising attraction: the so-called topological insulator. This class of materials exhibits a very peculiar property: they behave like insulators in the interior, but contain conducting states at their boundaries. As these states are "topologically" protected (see below), the states are very robust against imperfections, and electric currents can flow almost without any dissipation. This makes these materials extremely interesting for the ta...