ObservingZitterbewegungfor Photons near the Dirac Point of a Two-Dimensional Photonic Crystal

Abstract

It is shown, for the first time, that the zitterbewegung of photon can appear near the Dirac point in two-dimensional photonic crystal. The superiority of such a phenomenon for photons is that it can be found in different scaling structures with wide frequency regions. It can be observed by measuring the time dependence of the transmission coefficient through photonic crystal slabs. Thus, it is particularly suited for experimentally observing this effect. We have observed such a phenomenon by exact numerical simulations, confirming a long-standing theoretical prediction.

Accidental degeneracy of double Dirac cones in a phononic crystal

“…Although there is no flat band in our system, and it neither satisfies long wave approximation nor is regarded as effective zero-index medium, a new kind of novel Talbot effect can still be found in this phononic crystal near the quadruple degenerate point due to the linear and isotropic dispersion, which is insensitive to various types of defects and wave source. The Zitterbewegung is also expected for such quadruple-degenerate state associated with the Dirac equation3233. The enhancement of the nonlinearity is also prospective for the phase matching effect in our system3435.…”

First-principles study of Dirac and Dirac-like cones in phononic and photonic crystals

“…1 The existence of Dirac cones in graphene can be well understood by using a tight-binding model for carbon atoms in a honeycomb lattice. 1 Recently, Dirac cones in photonic and phononic crystals have also been found at the corners of the Brillouin zones of triangular and honeycomb lattices where two bands meet, [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] leading to the observation of many novel wave transport properties, such as classical analogs of Zitterbewegung and pseudodiffusion. It was reported that linear dispersions can also occur at the Brillouin zone center of a square lattice photonic crystal, induced by simultaneous zero permittivity (ε eff = 0) and permeability (μ eff = 0), and the linear dispersions could be understood from an effective medium perspective.…”

Type-II Dirac photons

“…[2][3][4] There has been a trend in the simulation of relativistic waves and topological states in classical dynamics such as electromagnetic, 5,6 acoustic 7-9 and mechanical waves, 10,11 mostly in 2D systems. Many novel phenomena in electromagnetism are discovered along this paradigm, such as photonic Zitterbewugung, 12 zero-index dielectric metamaterials, 13 deformation induced pseudomagnetic field for photons, 14 as well as photonic topological insulators with [15][16][17][18][19] and without 5,[20][21][22][23][24] time-reversal T ð Þ symmetry. Recently, such simulation develops from 2D to 3D, [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] exposing to larger wavevector and configuration space that may lead to richer physical phenomena, particularly using T -invariant materials which are more feasible for high-frequency (e.g., infrared or visible) applications.…”