We theoretically demonstrate nontrivial topological effects for a probe field in a Raman medium undergoing molecular modulation processes. The medium is driven by two noncollinear pump beams. We show that the angle between the pumps is related to an effective gauge potential and an effective magnetic field for the probe field in the synthetic space consisting of a synthetic frequency dimension and a spatial dimension. As a result of such an effective magnetic field, the probe field can exhibit a topologically protected one-way edge state in the synthetic space, as well as Landau levels which manifest as suppression of both diffraction and sideband generation. Our work identifies a previously unexplored route towards creating topological photonics effects and highlights an important connection between topological photonics and nonlinear optics.

• Received 13 November 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.95.033801