Nonreciprocity of thermal radiation in attenuated total reflection-mediated optical waveguide

Abstract

Fano resonance (FR) and the triggered nonreciprocal thermal radiation (NTR) in a Weyl semimetal (WSM)- incorporated Kretschmann configuration has been observed and analyzed. Employing the anisotropic permittivity tensor, the electromagnetic responses of the proposed layered structure have been studied, and we illustrate that FR and strong nonreciprocity is attributed to the coupling between the planar waveguide mode and surface plasmon polaritons in WSM. It is shown that absorptivity (α) is not consistent with emissivity (e) in the considered angular range, which confirms near-complete violation of Kirchhoff's law with nonmagnetic WSM. To analyze the physical origin of NTR, we performed numerical calculations for the α, e, nonreciprocity (η), as well as the magnetic field inside each layer. The compre-hensive investigation of η with regard to geometric parameters suggests great potential for the practical use of perfect absorption and NTR over a wide range of frequencies and layer thicknesses.