Discovery of a maximally charged Weyl point

Qiaolu Chen, Fujia Chen, Yuang Pan, Chaoxi Cui, Qinghui Yan, Li Zhang, Zhen Gao, Shengyuan A. Yang, Zhi-Ming Yu (), Hongsheng Chen (), Baile Zhang () and Yihao Yang ()
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Qiaolu Chen: Zhejiang University
Fujia Chen: Zhejiang University
Yuang Pan: Zhejiang University
Chaoxi Cui: Beijing Institute of Technology
Qinghui Yan: Zhejiang University
Li Zhang: Zhejiang University
Zhen Gao: Southern University of Science and Technology
Shengyuan A. Yang: Singapore University of Technology and Design
Zhi-Ming Yu: Beijing Institute of Technology
Hongsheng Chen: Zhejiang University
Baile Zhang: Nanyang Technological University
Yihao Yang: Zhejiang University

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The hypothetical Weyl particles in high-energy physics have been discovered in three-dimensional crystals as collective quasiparticle excitations near two-fold degenerate Weyl points. Such momentum-space Weyl particles carry quantised chiral charges, which can be measured by counting the number of Fermi arcs emanating from the corresponding Weyl points. It is known that merging unit-charged Weyl particles can create new ones with more charges. However, only very recently has it been realised that there is an upper limit — the maximal charge number that a two-fold Weyl point can host is four — achievable only in crystals without spin-orbit coupling. Here, we report the experimental realisation of such a maximally charged Weyl point in a three-dimensional photonic crystal. The four charges support quadruple-helicoid Fermi arcs, forming an unprecedented topology of two non-contractible loops in the surface Brillouin zone. The helicoid Fermi arcs also exhibit the long-pursued type-II van Hove singularities that can reside at arbitrary momenta. This discovery reveals a type of maximally charged Weyl particles beyond conventional topological particles in crystals.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34978-z

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