Expanding momentum bandgaps in photonic time crystals through resonances

The realization of photonic time crystals is a major opportunity but also comes with considerable challenges. The most pressing one, potentially, is the requirement for a substantial modulation strength in the material properties to create a noticeable momentum bandgap. Reaching that noticeable bandgap in optics is highly demanding with current, and possibly also future materials platforms because their modulation strength is small by tendency. Here we demonstrate that by introducing temporal variations in a resonant material, the momentum bandgap can be drastically expanded with modulation strengths in reach with known low-loss materials and realistic laser pump powers. The resonance can emerge from an intrinsic material resonance or a suitably spatially structured material supporting a structural resonance. Our concept is validated for resonant bulk media and optical metasurfaces and paves the way towards the first experimental realizations of photonic time crystals. Optical realization of photonic time crystals can be achieved by using temporal variations in a resonant material to expand the momentum bandgap, even at low modulation strengths, with known low-loss materials and realistic laser pump powers.