General bound states in the continuum in momentum space

Qiao Jiang1,2, Peng Hu1, Jun Wang1, Dezhuan Han1,*, and Jian Zi3,†

1
College of Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
2
Chongqing Key Laboratory for Strongly Coupled Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
3
Department of Physics, Key Laboratory of Micro- and Nano-Photonic Structures (MOE), and State Key
Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
*e-mail: [email protected]
†
e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Polarization singularities including bound states in the continuum (BICs) and circularly polarized
states have provided promising opportunities in the manipulation of light waves. Previous studies
show that BICs in photonic crystal slabs are protected by C2T symmetry and hence normally exist
on the high-symmetry lines of momentum space. Here, we propose an approach based on graph
theory to study these polarization singularities in momentum space, especially in the region off the
high-symmetry lines. With a polarization graph, it is demonstrated for the first time that BICs can
stably exist off the high-symmetry lines of momentum space for both one-dimensional and two-
dimensional photonic crystal slabs. Furthermore, two kinds of interesting processes, including the
merging involved with this newly found BICs both on and off the high-symmetry lines, are
observed by merely changing the thickness of photonic crystal slab. Our findings provide a new
perspective to explore polarization singularities in momentum space and render their further
applications in light-matter interaction and light manipulation.

Introduction

Photonic crystal (PhC) slabs that support resonance modes have become a platform for

studying singular optics [1-3] in momentum space [4-7], where different kinds of polarization

singularities, including vortex polarization singularities (V points) and circularly polarized states

(C points), are revealed and experimentally observed. At a V point, as the far-field radiation

vanishes and the corresponding Bloch mode has no leakage, it is dubbed the bound state in the

continuum (BIC) [4-12]. The unique properties of BICs, including the polarization vortex and

extremely high Q factor, have provided promising applications in nonlinear optics [13-17], lasers

[18-22] and light field manipulation [23, 24]. On the other hand, a C point with finite Q factor can
only couple to circularly polarized waves, leading to possible applications of chiral light sources

[25].

Besides the above interesting properties, the topological nature of these singularities has

triggered a further study of the evolution of these singularities in momentum space. Due to the

robustness of BICs, they can be continuously moved along the high-symmetry lines of momentum

space by varying the geometrical parameters while keeping the symmetry of PhC slab. This has

been used to generate ultrahigh-Q guided resonances by merging different BICs [26]. If the

symmetry of the PhC slab is broken, more interesting phenomena of these polarization singularities

have been discovered. For example, a pair of C points with the same topological charge but

opposite handedness can be generated from a BIC by breaking the C2 symmetry of the PhC slab

[6]. When further breaking the up-down mirror symmetry, two C points spilt from an off-Γ BIC

has been utilized to generate a unidirectional guided resonance by recombining them, which can

only radiate to one side of the PhC slab [27]. It is worth noting that although C points can exist

and evolve off the high-symmetry lines of momentum space, the initial or recombined V points in

the unidirectional guided resonance are always on the high-symmetry lines [27, 28]. Recently, it

is reported that BICs off the high-symmetry lines can be found by introduce PT-symmetric

perturbation [29] or be tuned from high-symmetry lines by breaking all in-plane mirror symmetries

[30]. However, it is still a puzzle whether there is a BIC off the high-symmetry lines of momentum

space which exists intrinsically in the system of PhC slabs without changing its symmetry. This is

crucial for further understanding the topological nature of the leaky modes in momentum space.

In this work, we study the distribution and evolution of polarization singularities through the

polarization graph in momentum space. The vertices and edges of the graph correspond to the

polarization singularities and nodal lines. We demonstrate that the topological charge of a face in

the polarization graph is exactly zero, which indicates that the topological charges of the

singularities at different k points are in fact related to each other. Thus, it reveals a nonlocal

property of polarization singularities in momentum space. Based on this property of polarization

graph, the existence of BICs off the high-symmetry lines of momentum space without reducing

the system symmetry is demonstrated for the first time, which are called general BICs here.

Furthermore, by merely changing the thickness of the PhC slab, this new type of BIC is

demonstrated to be robust, and two kinds of interesting processes related to this BIC are observed,

including its merging with an ordinary off-Γ BIC on the high-symmetry lines and the merging

together with another general BIC off the high-symmetry lines of momentum space.

Results

Fig. 1 Polarization graph in momentum space. (a) Schematic diagram of a polarization graph and
its dual graph. In the polarization graph, the edges correspond to polarization nodal lines of major
axis of polarization ellipse (green lines: 𝜓∥ , black lines: 𝜓⊥ = 𝜓∥ + 𝜋/2). BICs and C points
correspond to the intersection and joint points of edges with different colors, respectively. The dual
graph is shown by the purple vertices and edges. (b) The charge of a bounded face in polarization
graph is always zero. Numbers near the red dashed contour indicate shared charges of the
corresponding vertices to this face. (c) The charge of a bounded face in the dual graph is exactly
the charge of the corresponding vertex in the original graph.

In general, the far-field polarization states for resonance states are elliptical and transverse to

the wave vector k, which can be projected onto the x-y plane in an appropriate way with their

polarization information preserved [7]. In this projected polarization field, polarization

singularities, including both BICs (V points) and C points, correspond to vortex centers with

undefined orientation angle of the major axis for the polarization ellipse. As illustrated in Fig. 1(a),
to construct a polarization graph that can reveal the correlation between different polarization

singularities in momentum space, the edges are defined as polarization nodal lines with orthogonal

orientation angle 𝜓∥ (green lines) and 𝜓⊥ (black lines). These edges correspond to polarization

states on two longitudes on a great circle on Poincaré sphere, dividing the sphere

into two hemispheres (colored as red and blue) [see left panel of Fig. 1(a)]. The polarization states

of different faces of a polarization graph can be classified as red and blue accordingly. With this

definition, there are three typical types of vertices: BICs, C and neutral points. BICs and C points

correspond to the intersection and joint points of different kinds of polarization nodal lines (i.e.

edges with different colors), which can be characterized by a topological charge q as:
1
𝑞 = 2𝜋 ∮𝐿 𝑑𝒌∥ ∙ ∇𝒌∥ 𝜓(𝒌∥ ), (1)

where L is a counterclockwise closed loop around a polarization singularity in momentum space.

1
𝒌∥ = (𝑘𝑥 , 𝑘𝑦 ) is the in-plane wave vector. 𝜓(𝒌∥ ) = 2 arg(𝑆1 + 𝑖𝑆2 ), where Si is the i-th Stokes

parameter, is the orientation angle of the major axis for the polarization ellipse. The topological

charge for a BIC and a C point is an integer and a half integer [2-4, 6], respectively. Different from

BICs and C points, neutral points are formed by two edges with the same color and carry zero

topological charge.

For illustration, considering a general case involving both BICs and C points in momentum

space, a polarization graph and its dual graph (colored in purple) are shown in the right panel of

Fig. 1(a). The dual graph has a vertex corresponding to each face of the polarization graph, and a

face for each vertex in the polarization graph. It can be seen that different polarization singularities

are correlated through edges and a series of faces is formed in the polarization graph. Note that a

face can be unbounded when it extends beyond the light line or to infinity (e.g. when k→∞ along

the direction that is uniform for a one-dimensional PhC slab). Here, we focus on the faces bounded

by edges in the polarization graph. As shown in Fig. 1(b), the topological charge Q of a bounded

face is defined as the winding number along a clockwise contour C (red dashed line) inside this

face. Because the polarization along the edges remains its major axis in the same direction and
thus does not contribute to the winding number, the result is only determined by the integral along

the small arcs around the polarization singularities. For an arc, since the orientation of major axes

at the starting and end points is orthogonal, its contribution to winding number of the face is q/n,

where n is the degree of this vertex, i.e. the number of edges that are incident to it (see Sec. S1 of

Supplemental Material). We define 𝑞𝑖 as the shared topological charge of the i-th polarization

singularity to this face. On the other hand, since there are no singularities inside this contour, the

total winding number should be zero. Thus, we obtain the following relation:
1
𝑄 = 2𝜋 ∮𝐶 𝑑𝒌∥ ⋅ 𝛻𝒌∥ 𝜓(𝒌∥ ) = ∑ 𝑞𝑖 = 0, (2)

which means the topological charge Q of an arbitrary bounded face in polarization graph equals to

the sum of 𝑞𝑖 and should be zero. Similarly, as shown in Fig. 1(c), a topological charge calculated

along the counterclockwise contour (gray dashed line) can also be assigned to a face of the dual

graph. Since the face in the dual graph corresponds to a vertex in the polarization graph, this

topological charge of a face is actually the charge of a vertex in the polarization graph, equaling to

the result calculated by Eq. (1) along a closed loop [red dashed lines in Fig. 1(c)]. In fact, if we let
1
a flux 𝑩 = 2𝜋 𝛻𝒌∥ 𝜓(𝒌∥ ) , Eqs. (1) and (2) can be regarded as “Ampère's circuital law” for a

polarization graph in momentum space, which provides a unified description for the charges of

faces and vertices in a polarization graph. In particular, Eq. (2) reveals a remarkable correlation of

different polarization singularities and is useful for exploring the existence and evolution of the

singularities in momentum space.

Fig. 2 Polarization graph and general BICs in a PhC slab. (a) Schematic of a two-dimensional PhC
slab consisting of a square lattice of circular air holes in a dielectric slab. (b) Simulated TE-like
band structure along the X-Γ-M direction for a PhC slab studied in Ref. [26]. (c) Polarization graph
of TE1 band [red line in (b)], exhibiting one at-Γ BIC and eight off-Γ BICs. (d) Simulated TM-like
band structure along the Γ-M direction. (e) Polarization graph of TM3 band. The inset shows the
far-field polarization states and Q factor near the general BIC at 𝒌∥ = (0.0775, 0.1115)2𝜋/𝑎.
The white dotted line in (c) and (e) indicates the Γ-M direction. The blue and red colors in (c) and
(e) indicate the regions with Stokes parameter S2<0 and S2>0, respectively.

Here, we first utilize polarization graph to investigate BICs supported by a two-dimensional

PhC slab reported in Ref. [26]. The PhC slab is formed by square-lattice circular air holes in a

dielectric slab [see Fig. 2(a)]. For the lowest TE-like band [TE1 in Fig.2 (b)], there are nine BICs,

including one at-Γ BIC and eight off-Γ BICs. It has been experimentally shown that these BICs

can be tuned together to generate a merging BIC with ultrahigh Q factor. However, it is still unclear

why the topological charges for the eight off-Γ BICs should alternate between +1 and -1. In Fig.

2(c), we plot the polarization graph of TE1 band which is obtained from the simulated far-field

polarization in momentum space. Considering the in-plane mirror symmetry (σx and σy) of the

structure, the polarization nodal lines of 𝜓∥ = 0 (green lines) and 𝜓⊥ = 𝜋/2 (black lines) are

chosen. It can be observed that these BICs indeed locate at the vertices connected by different

edges. Interestingly, as indicated by the white dashed contour, there must be two BICs with charge
of +1 and the other two with charge of -1 since the net charge of the bounded face is zero according

to Eq. (2). Due to the C4v symmetry of the PhC slab, the charges of off-Γ BICs on the kx and ky

axes are the same. Thus, when we know the topological charge of at-Γ BIC is +1, it can be directly

determined that the BIC on Γ-M direction have a charge of +1 and another two BICs on the the kx

and ky axes should possess a charge of -1. This example suggest that polarization graph is a

powerful tool for understanding the charge distribution in momentum space.

It has been widely demonstrated that BICs can robustly exist on the high-symmetry lines of

momentum space in a PhC slab with symmetry of 𝐶2𝑧 𝑇 and 𝜎𝑧 . Polarization graph further

provides a way to find undiscovered BICs that exist off the high-symmetry lines, namely, the

general BICs. To verify this, we still adopt a square-lattice PhC slab as schematically shown in Fig.

2(a); the dielectric slab consists of Si3N4 (refractive index n = 2) and period a = 400 nm, hole

diameter d = 0.5a, and thickness h = 1.6a. The band under study is TM3 as highlighted in red in

Fig. 2(d). Figure 2(e) plots the polarization graph near a BIC (with topological charge of +1) on

Γ-M direction. It exhibits another two BICs at 𝒌∥ = (0.0775, 0.1115)2𝜋/𝑎 and 𝒌∥ =

(0.1115, 0.0775)2𝜋/𝑎, which are symmetrical with respect to the Γ-M direction due to the mirror

symmetry. Focusing on the BIC on the upper left (indicated by the white dashed box), its

topological charge should be -1 because it forms a bounded face together with the BIC on Γ-M

direction as indicated by the red arrow. Again, the zero net charge of a face shown in Eq. (2) can

be applied to determine the charge. For confirmation, the polarization states and Q factors are

shown in the inset, where we can see a V point with a topological charge of -1 as well as a divergent

Q factor.
Fig. 3 Merging of two general BICs and an off-Γ BIC. (a) Schematic diagram of a one-dimensional
PhC slab and simulated TE-like band structure for h = 1.41a. (b) Simulated polarization graph for
the TE2 band. The inset shows far-field polarization states and Q factors near the general BIC
(indicated by the white dashed box). (c) Simulated polarization graphs for h = 1.392a, 1.387a, and
1.382a. The insets show the polarization states and Q factors near off-Γ BIC on the ky axis.

It is worth noting that the general BIC uncovered above exists intrinsically off the high-

symmetry lines of momentum space, distinct from the BICs tuned from the high-symmetry lines

by breaking the in-plane mirror symmetries [30], which can only be realized in a two-dimensional

PhC slab. For further verification, we exemplify a one-dimensional Si3N4 PhC slab with period a

= 400 nm, width w = 0.58a, and thickness h = 1.41a [see Fig. 3(a)]. The band under study is TE2.

As shown in Fig. 3(b), due to the in-plane mirror symmetry of this PhC slab, the polarization graph

for a quarter of momentum space is plotted to exhibit the distribution of BICs [see more in Sec.

S2 of Supplemental Material]. It can be observed that there are four BICs, including three ones on

the high-symmetry lines (kx and ky axes) and one off the high-symmetry lines. The first three BICs

are easy to find by simulations along the high-symmetry lines [4, 31], but the general one has never

been seen before. The polarization states and Q factors near the general BIC are plotted in the inset

of Fig. 3(b), which clearly demonstrate its existence with a divergent Q factor and a topological

charge of +1.

When we continuously vary the geometric parameters of this PhC slab without breaking the
symmetry, these BICs will evolve with the polarization graph and robustly exist until they collide

with each other. Figure 3(c) shows the polarization graphs for h = 1.392a, 1.387a, and 1.382a,

which indicates that two general BICs (charge +1) gradually approach the off-Γ BIC (charge -1)

on ky axis when decreasing the thickness. Due to the left-right mirror symmetry (σx), these three

BICs will merge on the ky axis. After the merging process, only an off-Γ BIC with charge +1

remains, obeying the conservation law of topological charge. It is interesting that the topological

charge of off-Γ BIC can be changed by merely varying the geometric parameters of this PhC slab.

This can be further demonstrated by the polarization states and Q factors in the insets of Fig. 3(c),

which shows that the topological charge of the off-Γ BIC changes from -1 to +1. Note that a similar

process can also happen for the case of two-dimensional PhC slab in Fig. 2(e) [see Sec. S3 of

Supplemental Material].

Fig. 4 Merging two general BICs off the high-symmetry lines. (a) Simulated TM band structure of
a one-dimensional Si3N4 PhC slab with w = 0.47a and h = 2.05a. (b)-(d) Polarization graphs for
(b) h = 2.05a, (c) 2.08a, and (d) 2.10a. The insets are far-field polarization states and the
corresponding Q factors near the two general BICs (marked by the white dashed box). The blue
(red) dot indicates right-handed (left-handed) C point.

The above examples show that general BICs can merge with off-Γ BIC on the high-symmetry

lines of momentum space. Here, we further demonstrate that two general BICs can also merge off
the high-symmetry lines in a one-dimensional PhC slab. The simulated TM-like band structure for

h = 2.05a is plotted in Fig. 4(a). As shown in Fig. 4(b), the polarization graph of band TM3 exhibits

various polarization singularities, including two C points and three BICs [see more details in Sec.

S4 of Supplemental Material]. It is obvious that an arbitrary bounded face in Fig. 4(b) carries zero

net charge as we demonstrated in Eq. (2). Focusing on the two general BICs, the polarization graph

in Fig. 4(c) shows that they will merge together when h is increased to 2.08a, which can be clearly

observed from the polarization states and Q factors. When further increasing h, these two BICs

annihilate each other and the Q factor is no longer divergent [see Fig. 4(d)]. This process can be

explicitly observed in the evolution of the polarization graph, which shows a typical configuration

from crossing to separation of two different edges when increasing h [see the white dashed box in

Figs. 4(b)-4(d)].

Conclusions

In summary, we have studied the distribution and evolution of polarization singularities in

momentum space based on the graph theory of polarization states. The topological charge for an

arbitrary bounded face in the polarization graph is demonstrated to be zero, manifesting the

correlation of polarization singularities at different k points. This result manifest a nonlocal

property of singularities and is an extension of the conversation law of topological charges. It plays

a significant role in exploring the topological charges in the whole momentum space, especially

off the high-symmetry lines. With the polarization graph, it is firstly demonstrated that BICs can

actually exist off the high-symmetry lines of momentum space without breaking the mirror

symmetry of the PhC slab. By only varying the thickness of the PhC slab, it is revealed that the

general BICs can merge with an ordinary off-Γ BIC on the high-symmetry lines and merge together

off the high-symmetry lines of momentum space. Our findings complete the classification and

dynamics of polarization singularities in momentum space instead of being limited to the vicinity

of high-symmetry lines, and possibly inspire further advances in light manipulation and light-
matter interaction.

Acknowledgements

We thank Professors C. M. Song, C. Peng, L. Lu, and L. Shi for helpful discussions. This work

is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12047564,

12074049, 12104073, and 12147102), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No.

2020M683234), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No.

2022CDJQY-007).

Q. J. and P. H. contributed equally to this work.

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Supplemental Material

General bound states in the continuum in momentum space

Qiao Jiang1,2, Peng Hu1, Jun Wang1, Dezhuan Han1,2, and Jian Zi3

1
College of Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
2
Chongqing Key Laboratory for Strongly Coupled Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China.
3
Department of Physics, Key Laboratory of Micro- and Nano-Photonic Structures (MOE), and State Key
Laboratory of Surface Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.

S1. Illustration of shared charge in the polarization graph

As the far-field polarization state with orientation angle 𝜓 and ellipticity angle χ can be

mapped to a point on Poincaré sphere with longitude and latitude coordinates of (2𝜓, 2χ), a closed

loop L in momentum space that encloses a polarization singularity with topological charge q will

correspond to a closed trajectory on the Poincaré sphere. The winding number of this trajectory on

the Poincaré sphere around the S3 axis is nw = 2q. For example, the trajectory for a closed

counterclockwise loop around a BIC with q = 1 goes around the S3 axis two times in the

counterclockwise direction. With this correspondence, it is intuitive to understand the charge

sharing in the polarization graph.

Fig. S1. (a) Schematic of polarization graph near a BIC with topological charge of -1(left panel)
and the corresponding trajectory in the S1-S2 plane for a closed loop shown by the red dashed circle
around the BIC (right panel). (b) Schematic of polarization graph for a C point with topological
charge of 1/2 and the corresponding projected trajectory in the S1-S2 plane for a closed loop around
the C point.

1
Here, we take a BIC with charge 𝑞BIC = −1 and a C point with charge 𝑞CP = 2 for

illustration. As shown in Fig. S1(a), for a BIC with charge 𝑞BIC = −1, the closed loop (red dashed

⏜ , BC
circle) in momentum space is made up of four parts: AB ⏜ , CD
⏜ , and DA
⏜ . When mapped onto

Poincaré sphere, the corresponding projected trajectory in the S1-S2 plane is illustrated in the right

panel of Fig. S1(a). Focusing on the path AB in momentum space [see left panel of Fig. S1(a)],

because the polarization nodal line of 𝜓∥ = 0 (𝜓⊥ = π/2) corresponds to S2=0 and S1>0 (S1<0), the

corresponding trajectory in the S1-S2 plane will go around S3 axis with an angle of -π, exactly
1
resulting in a shared topological charge 𝑞AB = −1/4 = 4 𝑞BIC . The same also holds for the paths

1
BC, CD, and DA, that is, 𝑞AB = 𝑞BC = 𝑞CD = 𝑞DA = 4 𝑞BIC . For a C point with charge 𝑞CP =

1/2, as shown in Fig. S1(b), the closed loop (red dashed circle) in momentum space is made up of

⏜ and BA
AB ⏜ , corresponding to a closed trajectory around the S3 axis with winding number nw = 1

[see right panel of Fig. S1(b)]. Similar to the case of BIC in Fig. S1(a), the path AB in momentum

space corresponds to a trajectory going around S3 axis with an angle of π in the S1-S2 plane,
1
indicating a shared topological charge 𝑞AB = 1/4 = 2 𝑞CP . Similarly, we have 𝑞AB = 𝑞BA =

1
𝑞 .
2 CP

S2. Details of polarization graphs for the examples in Fig. 3

In Fig. 3(b) of the main text, we only plot the polarization graph for a quarter of momentum

space due to the in-plane mirror symmetry of the one-dimensional PhC slab. Fig. S2(a) provides a
whole view of the polarization graph and Q factor distribution for h = 1.41a. It can be clearly seen

that there are four general BICs distributed symmetrically about kx and ky axes.

When gradually decreasing the thickness of the PhC slab, there is a process of BIC merging

at Γ point before the merging of two general BICs and an off-Γ BIC shown in Fig. 3(c). As shown

in Fig. S2(a) and S2(c), two off-Γ BICs on the kx axis move towards the at-Γ BIC as h gradually

decreases. After a merging process, the topological charge of at-Γ BIC changes from +1 to -1.

When further decreasing the thickness, the process shown in Fig. 3(c) will happen.

Fig. S2 Polarization graphs and Q factors of TE2 band in Fig. 3 for (a) h = 1.41a, (b) 1.41a, and
(c) 1.40a.

S3. Merging of general BICs and an off-Γ BIC in a two-dimensional PhC slab

Here, we show that the two general BICs in Fig. 2(e) can merge with the off-Γ BIC in the Γ-

M direction when decreasing the thickness of the PhC slab. For comparison, polarization graphs

and corresponding Q factors for h = 1.60a and 1.585a are plotted in Figs. S3(a) - S3(d). It can be
observed that only the off-Γ BIC remains when h is decreased from 1.60a to 1.585a. Due to the

conservation of topological charge, charge of this BIC will change from +1 to -1, which can be

clearly demonstrated by the polarization states in Figs. S3(e) and S3(f).

Fig. S3 (a, b) Polarization graphs for h = (a) 1.60a and (b) 1.585a. (c, d) Q factor profiles for h =
(c) 1.60a and (d) 1.585a. (e, f) Polarization states and Q factor near the off-Γ BIC in the Γ-M
direction for h = (e) 1.60a and (f) 1.585a. The white dashed lines indicate the high-symmetry lines
along the Γ-M direction.

S4. Details of polarization states for band TM3

 In Fig. 4 of the main text, we focus on the two general BICs off the high-symmetry lines of

momentum space. Here, to provide a clear proof of the other polarization singularities shown in

Fig. 4(b), the detailed polarization states are plotted in Fig. S4(a) for h = 2.05a. Due to the

symmetry of the PhC slab, we only plot the calculated results for ky≥0. The right-handed (left-

handed) C point are marked by blue (red) dots. From the polarization states, the topological charges

of the off-Γ BIC on the kx axis and two C points can be obtained as -1 and 1/2, respectively. The

divergent points of the Q factor in Fig. S4(b) clearly demonstrate the existence of two general BICs

and an off-Γ BIC in this one-dimensional PhC slab.

Fig. S4 (a) Polarization states and (b) Q factor profile of TM3 band corresponding to the
polarization graph in Fig. 4(b). The polarization nodal lines in (a) are the same with Fig. 4(b). The
blue (red) ellipse in (a) denotes the right-handed (left-handed) elliptic polarization.