Topological characteristic of Weyl degeneracies in a reciprocal chiral metamaterials system

Abstract

Abstract Being a research hotspot in the field of topological semimetals, Weyl points (WPs) are monopoles of Berry curvature in momentum space. In this paper, we report the existence of photonic Weyl degeneracies in a reciprocal chiral metamaterials system. Due to the flat dispersion relation of the bulk plasmon modes, Weyl degeneracies here lie right on the critical transition between the type-I and type-II WPs. The photonic ‘Fermi arc’ connects the projection of pairs of WPs at the interface between the metamaterials and vacuum. Despite the bulk equi-frequency surfaces have changed dramatically, the ‘Fermi arc’ always exists. In addition, numerical simulations of topologically protected ‘Fermi arc’ surface states show that the surface waves are not scattered or reflected by the presence of sharp corners. Notably, such metamaterials host either type-I, type-II WPs or triple degenerate points (TDPs) depending on the nonlocal response. Our work provides an ideal photonic platform for studying the closely relation between WPs and other exotic states.