Pseudospin Hall effect of light in photonic crystals with Weyl points

TL;DR

This paper investigates the pseudospin Hall effect of light in photonic crystals with Weyl points, revealing a transverse shift during reflection linked to the Weyl point's monopole charge, with potential implications for optical applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates the pseudospin Hall effect in Weyl photonic crystals and links the transverse shift to the monopole charge, a novel insight into light-matter interactions in these materials.

Findings

Transverse shift during total reflection is proportional to pseudospin.

The effect is related to the monopole charge of Weyl points.

Potential applications in optical devices and other fields.

Abstract

The study of spin-orbit coupling of photons has attracted much attention in recent years, and leads to many potential applications in optics. In the recently discovered metamaterial -- photonic crystals with Weyl points, the pseudospin-orbit coupling of photons bears a resemblance to the spin-orbit coupling. We study the pseudospin Hall effect of light in such metamaterials and find that during total reflection, the light beam experiences a transverse shift that is proportional to the pseudospin (or the monopole charge) of the Weyl point. As the spin Hall effect has inspired many works to explore the applications in optics, exploring the coupling between the orbital and pseudospin degrees of freedom of photons can also be fruitful in the field of optics, as well as in other fields where Weyl points can be realized.