Weyl points and line nodes in gyroid photonic crystals

Abstract

Weyl points and line nodes are three-dimensional linear point and line degeneracies between two bands. In contrast to two-dimensional Dirac points, which are their lower-dimensional analogues, Weyl points are stable in momentum space, and the associated surface states are predicted to be topologically non-trivial. However, Weyl points are yet to be discovered in nature. Here, we report photonic crystals based on double-gyroid structures, exhibiting frequency-isolated Weyl points with complete phase diagrams by breaking the parity and time-reversal symmetries. Gapless surface dispersions associated with non-zero Chern numbers are demonstrated. Line nodes are also found in similar geometries, the associated surface states forming flat dispersion bands. Our results are based on realistic ab initio calculations with true predictive power and should be readily realizable experimentally from microwave to optical frequencies.