Observation of the edge modes in photonic graphene

Photonic graphene, photonic crystal with honeycomb lattice is studied in the work. Using both finite element simulations and microwave experiments, we studied the existence of the edge modes at different edges of this “photonic graphene”. The edge states are observed experimentally on the bearded interfaces of photonic crystals. The physics of the occurrence of these edge modes are discussed and we hope that the fabrication easiness of photonic crystal makes it a perfect platform for classical simulations of electronic transport properties in graphene.