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Register a new userExperimental observation of Weyl points
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In 1929, Hermann Weyl derived the massless solutions from the Dirac equation - the relativistic wave equation for electrons. Neutrinos were thought, for decades, to be Weyl fermions until the discovery of the neutrino mass. Moreover, it has been suggested that low energy excitations in condensed matter can be the solutions to the Weyl Hamiltonian. Recently, photons have also been proposed to emerge as Weyl particles inside photonic crystals. In all cases, two linear dispersion bands in the three-dimensional (3D) momentum space intersect at a single degenerate point - the Weyl point. Remarkably, these Weyl points are monopoles of Berry flux with topological charges defined by the Chern numbers. These topological invariants enable materials containing Weyl points to exhibit a wide variety of novel phenomena including surface Fermi arcs, chiral anomaly, negative magnetoresistance, nonlocal transport, quantum anomalous Hall effect, unconventional superconductivity[15] and others [16, 17]. Nevertheless, Weyl points are yet to be experimentally observed in nature. In this work, we report on precisely such an observation in an inversion-breaking 3D double-gyroid photonic crystal without breaking time-reversal symmetry.
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Weyl fermions are hypothetical two-component massless relativistic particles in three-dimensional (3D) space, proposed by Hermann Weyl in 1929. Their band-crossing points, called Weyl points, carry a topological charge and are therefore highly robust. There has been much excitement over recent observations of Weyl points in microwave photonic crystals and the semimetal TaAs. Here, we report on the first experimental observation of Weyl points of light at optical frequencies. These are also the first observations of type-II Weyl points for photons, which have strictly positive group velocity along one spatial direction. We use a 3D structure consisting of laser-written waveguides, and show the presence of type-II Weyl points by (1) observing conical diffraction along one axis when the frequency is tuned to the Weyl point; and (2) observing the associated Fermi arc surface states. The realization of Weyl points at optical frequencies allow these novel electromagnetic modes to be further explored in the context of linear, nonlinear, and quantum optics.
Weyl points emerge as topological monopoles of Berry flux in the three-dimensional (3D) momentum space and have been extensively studied in topological semimetals. As the underlying topological principles apply to any type of waves under periodic boundary conditions, Weyl points can also be realized in classical wave systems, which are easier to engineer compared to condensed matter materials. Here, we made an acoustic Weyl phononic crystal by breaking space inversion (P) symmetry using a combination of slanted acoustic waveguides. We conducted angle-resolved transmission measurements to characterize the acoustic Weyl points. We also experimentally confirmed the existence of acoustic Fermi arcs and demonstrated robust one-way acoustic transport, where the surface waves can overcome a step barrier without reflection. This work lays a solid foundation for the basic research in 3D topological acoustic effects.
Standard exceptional points (EPs) are non-Hermitian degeneracies that occur in open systems. At an EP, the Taylor series expansion becomes singular and fails to converge -- a feature that was exploited for several applications. Here, we theoretically introduce and experimentally demonstrate a new class of parity-time symmetric systems [implemented using radio frequency (rf) circuits] that combine EPs with another type of mathematical singularity associated with the poles of complex functions. These nearly divergent exceptional points can exhibit an unprecedentedly large eigenvalue bifurcation beyond those obtained by standard EPs. Our results pave the way for building a new generation of telemetering and sensing devices with superior performance.
We present a systematic study of both the temperature and frequency dependence of the optical response in TaAs, a material that has recently been realized to host the Weyl semimetal state. Our study reveals that the optical conductivity of TaAs features a narrow Drude response alongside a conspicuous linear dependence on frequency. The width of the Drude peak decreases upon cooling, following a $T^{2}$ temperature dependence which is expected for Weyl semimetals. Two linear components with distinct slopes dominate the 5-K optical conductivity. A comparison between our experimental results and theoretical calculations suggests that the linear conductivity below $sim$230~cm$^{-1}$ is a clear signature of the Weyl points lying in very close proximity to the Fermi energy.
As one of Weyl semimetals discovered recently, NbP exhibits two groups of Weyl points with one group lying inside the $k_z=0$ plane and the other group staying away from this plane. All Weyl points have been assumed to be type-I, for which the Fermi surface shrinks into a point as the Fermi energy crosses the Weyl point. In this work, we have revealed that the second group of Weyl points are actually type-II, which are found to be touching points between the electron and hole pockets in the Fermi surface. Corresponding Weyl cones are strongly tilted along a line approximately $17^circ$ off the $k_z$ axis in the $k_x - k_z$ (or $k_y - k_z$) plane, violating the Lorentz symmetry but still giving rise to Fermi arcs on the surface. Therefore, NbP exhibits both type-I ($k_z=0$ plane) and type-II ($k_z eq 0$ plane) Weyl points.
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