Abstract

Nonreciprocal thermal radiation can control radiative heat transfer at the nanoscale, which has led to studies on breaking Kirchhoff’s law. It can be found that polarization conversion significantly affects the realization of nonreciprocal thermal radiation. In this work, the symmetries and interrelationships between the reflectivities of a semi-infinite Weyl semimetal plate are studied. Notably, we investigate the copolarized and cross-polarized reflectivities for incidence of an $s$- or $p$-polarized plane wave when the momentum-separation of Weyl nodes is selected along the $y$ and $z$ axes of the coordinate system or any direction. The results reveal the equal and unequal quantities of the copolarized and cross-polarized reflectivities varying with the azimuthal angle when the momentum-separation of Weyl semimetal is along the coordinate axes. However, the equal quantities between the reflectivities of Weyl semimetal break down after the momentum-separation is rotated successively around the $x$ and $z$ axes. The copolarized and cross-polarized reflectivities of a bulk $\alpha {\text-} {\rm{Mo}}{{\rm{O}}_3}$, which is a reciprocal and anisotropic medium, are also calculated for comparison. Some equal quantities of the reflectivities can still be obtained for reciprocal materials after the rotations. We believe this work will provide new solutions and theoretical guidance for the study and realization of nonreciprocal thermal radiation.

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