97 research outputs found
Optical interface states protected by synthetic Weyl points
Weyl fermions have not been found in nature as elementary particles, but they
emerge as nodal points in the band structure of electronic and classical wave
crystals. Novel phenomena such as Fermi arcs and chiral anomaly have fueled the
interest in these topological points which are frequently perceived as
monopoles in momentum space. Here we report the experimental observation of
generalized optical Weyl points inside the parameter space of a photonic
crystal with a specially designed four-layer unit cell. The reflection at the
surface of a truncated photonic crystal exhibits phase vortexes due to the
synthetic Weyl points, which in turn guarantees the existence of interface
states between photonic crystals and any reflecting substrates. The reflection
phase vortexes have been confirmed for the first time in our experiments which
serve as an experimental signature of the generalized Weyl points. The
existence of these interface states is protected by the topological properties
of the Weyl points and the trajectories of these states in the parameter space
resembles those of Weyl semimetal "Fermi arcs surface states" in momentum
space. Tracing the origin of interface states to the topological character of
the parameter space paves the way for a rational design of strongly localized
states with enhanced local field.Comment: 36 pages, 9 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1610.0434
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