Non-reciprocal optical Tamm state in a photonic crystal heterojunction containing Weyl semimetals

Abstract

In the past decades, optical Tamm states (OTSs) in photonic crystal (PC) heterojunctions containing magneto-optical materials have been widely utilized to achieve non-reciprocal transmission. Nevertheless, as incident angle increases, both forward and backward OTSs in PC heterojunctions containing magneto-optical materials shift toward shorter wavelengths (i.e., blueshift), giving rise to weak non-reciprocities. In this paper, we achieve a non-reciprocal OTS in a PC heterojunction containing Weyl semimetals (WSMs). Interestingly, as incident angle increases, the forward OTS shifts towards longer wavelengths while the backward OTS shifts toward shorter wavelengths. Therefore, the non-reciprocity can be greatly enhanced. The underlying physical mechanism can be explained by the Fabry-Perot resonant condition. Besides, the effects of the axial vector b and the loss of WSM on non-reciprocity are investigated. These results would possess great potential applications in the design of circulators and isolators.