Janus Bound States in the Continuum with Asymmetric Topological Charges

Abstract: We propose a novel topological defect called Janus bound states in the continuum (BICs), featuring asymmetric topological charges in upward and downward radiation channels. Our approach involves a photonic crystal slab (PCS) that initially exhibits both out-of-plane and in-plane mirror symmetry, and this PCS possesses one BIC at the \Gamma point and two BICs off the \Gamma point. By introducing certain perturbations that break the out-of-plane mirror symmetry, the two off-\Gamma BICs decompose into four circularly polarized states (C points) with identical topological charges (each with half the topological charge of the original BIC) while the at-\Gamma BIC is preserved. Then, we selectively manipulate the four C points associated with the downward radiation channel to converge at the at-\Gamma BIC, forming a Janus BIC with distinct topological charges for upward and downward radiation. By further introducing in-plane mirror symmetry perturbation, we can bring two of the C points with the same handedness and identical topological charges for upward radiation to merge into the Janus BIC. This process results in a Janus chiral BIC which exhibits large intrinsic chirality and an infinite Q factor. Janus BICs can induce distinct Pancharatnam-Berry phase singularities in momentum space for different incident channels, providing a new approach to control orbital angular momentum. Janus chiral BICs hold promise in enhancing direction-dependent and spin-dependent asymmetric light-matter interaction, opening new pathways for improving chirality-dependent operation for on-chip devices.