2021/07/19 by Yifan Wang, Wang, Yifan, Chinmay Khandekar +9
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Applied Physics (physics.app-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications #Optics (physics.optics) #Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies #Topological Materials and Phenomena
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2107.09185
openalex publication_date 2021/07/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We numerically demonstrate that a planar slab made of magnetic Weyl semimetal (a class of topological materials) can emit high-purity circularly polarized (CP) thermal radiation over a broad mid- and long-wave infrared wavelength range for a significant portion of its emission solid angle. This effect fundamentally arises from the strong infrared gyrotropy or nonreciprocity of these materials which primarily depends on the momentum separation between Weyl nodes in the band structure. We clarify the dependence of this effect on the underlying physical parameters and highlight that the spectral bandwidth of CP thermal emission increases with increasing momentum separation between the Weyl nodes. We also demonstrate using recently developed thermal discrete dipole approximation (TDDA) computational method that finite-size bodies of magnetic Weyl semimetals can emit spectrally broadband CP thermal light, albeit over smaller portion of the emission solid angle compared to the planar slabs. Our work identifies unique fundamental and technological prospects of magnetic Weyl semimetals for engineering thermal radiation and designing efficient CP light sources.