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Updated: Mar 16, 2026

Spectral and Angle-Resolved Magneto-Optical Characterization of Photonic Nanostructures
Published on: November 21, 2019
Photonic Weyl degeneracies in magnetized plasma
Wenlong Gao1,2, Biao Yang1, Mark Lawrence1,3
1School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
Abstract:
Weyl particles are elusive relativistic fermionic particles with vanishing mass. While not having been found as an elementary particle, they are found to emerge in solid-state materials where three-dimensional bands develop a topologically protected point-like crossing, a so-called Weyl point. Photonic Weyl points have been recently realised in three-dimensional photonic crystals with complex structures. Here we report the presence of a novel type of plasmonic Weyl points in a naturally existing medium-magnetized plasma, in which Weyl points arise as crossings between purely longitudinal plasma modes and transverse helical propagating modes. These photonic Weyl points are right at the critical transition between a Weyl point with the traditional closed finite equifrequency surfaces and the newly proposed 'type II' Weyl points with open equifrequency surfaces. Striking observable features of plasmon Weyl points include a half k-plane chirality manifested in electromagnetic reflection. Our study introduces Weyl physics into homogeneous photonic media, which could pave way for realizing new topological photonic devices.
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