51. Klein tunneling and supercollimation of pseudospin-1 electromagnetic waves.
- Author
-
A. Fang, Z. Q. Zhang, Louie, Steven G., and C. T. Chan
- Subjects
- *
KLEIN paradox , *ELECTROMAGNETIC waves , *THEORY of wave motion , *DISPERSION (Chemistry) , *SCATTERING (Physics) - Abstract
Pseudospin plays a central role in many novel physical properties of graphene and other artificial systemswhich have pseudospins of 1/2. Here we show that in certain photonic crystals (PCs) exhibiting conical dispersions at k = 0, the eigenmodes near the "Dirac-like point" can be described by an effective spin-orbit Hamiltonian with a higher dimension value S = 1, treating the wave propagation in positive index (upper cone), negative index (lower cone), and zero index (flat band) media within a unified framework. The three-component spinor gives rise to boundary conditions distinct from those of pseudospin 1/2, leading to wave transport behaviors as manifested in super Klein tunneling and supercollimation. For example, collimation can be realized more easily with pseudospin 1 than pseudospin 1/2. The effective medium description of the PCs allows us to further understand the physics of pseudospin-1 electromagnetic (EM) waves from the perspective of complementary materials. The special wave scattering properties of pseudospin-1 EM waves, in conjunction with the discovery that the effective photonic potential can be varied by a simple change of length scale, offer ways to control photon transport. As a useful platform to study pseudospin-1 physics, dielectric PCs are much easier to fabricate and characterize than ultracold atom systems proposed previously. The system also provides a platform to realize the concept of "complementary medium" using dielectric materials and has the unique advantage of low loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF