Observation of Quadratic (Charge-2) Weyl Point Splitting in Near-Infrared Photonic Crystals (B6)

Christina Jörg, Sachin Vaidya, Jiho Noh, Alexander Cerjan, Shyam Augustine, Georg von Freymann, Mikael C. Rechtsman:

🔓 Laser Photonics Rev. 2022, 16, 2100452 (2022)

Weyl points are point degeneracies that occur in momentum space of 3D periodic materials and are associated with a quantized topological charge. Here, the splitting of a quadratic (charge-2) Weyl point into two linear (charge-1) Weyl points in a 3D micro-printed photonic crystal is observed experimentally via Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Using a theoretical analysis rooted in symmetry arguments, it is shown that this splitting occurs along high-symmetry directions in the Brillouin zone. This micro-scale observation and control of Weyl points is important for realizing robust topological devices in the near-infrared.