Plasmon Fizeau drag in 3D Dirac and Weyl semimetals

Abstract

There is a need for compact, dynamically tunable nonreciprocal optical elements to enable on-chip-compatible optical isolators and more efficient radiative energy transfer systems. Plasmon Fizeau drag, the drag of electrical current on propagating surface plasmon polaritons, has been proposed to induce nonreciprocal surface modes to enable one-way energy transport. However, relativistic electron drift velocities are required to induce appreciable contrast between the dispersion characteristics of co-propagating and counter-propagating surface plasmon modes. The high electron drift velocity of graphene previously allowed for the experimental demonstration of current-induced nonreciprocity in a two-dimensional (2D) Dirac material. The high electron drift and Fermi velocities in three-dimensional (3D) Dirac materials make them ideal candidates for the effect, however, both the theory of the Fizeau drag effect and its experimental demonstrations in 3D Dirac materials are missing. Here we develop a comprehensive theory of Fizeau drag in DC-biased 3D Weyl semimetals (WSM) or Dirac semimetals (DSM), both under local and non-local approximation and with dissipative losses. We predict that under practical assumptions for loss, Fizeau drag in the DSM Cd$_3$As$_2$ opens windows of pseudo-unidirectional transport. We additionally introduce new figures of merit to rank nonreciprocal plasmonic systems by their potential for directional SPP transport. Further, we propose a new approach for achieving appreciable plasmonic Fizeau drag via optically pumping bulk inversion symmetry breaking WSMs or DSMs