Photonic topological semimetals in bianisotropic metamaterials

Abstract

We analyze the photonic topological phases in bianisotropic metamaterials characterized by a chirality tensor with zero trace. We found that the strength of chirality component determines the topological character of the metamaterial. The underlying medium can be considered as a topological semimetal with the nontrivial band gap in the momentum space. The topological properties are described by the spin-orbit Hamiltonians with spin 1 and characterized by the nonzero topological invariants. In particular, photonic quantum Hall states exist when the longitudinal chirality component exceeds the permittivity, whereas photonic quantum spin Hall states are present when the chiral nihility occurs. Considering the dispersion in the frequency domain, the bianisotropic metamaterial is regarded as a photonic Weyl system that supports the Weyl points and Fermi arcs. The topological features are further illustrated with the robust transport of edge states at an irregular boundary of the metamaterial.