Dirac-like cone-based electromagnetic zero-index metamaterials

Metamaterials with a Dirac-like cone dispersion at the center of the Brillouin zone behave like an isotropic and impedance-matched zero refractive index material at the Dirac-point frequency. Such metamaterials can be realized in the form of either bulk metamaterials with efficient coupling to free-space light or on-chip metamaterials that are efficiently coupled to integrated photonic circuits. These materials enable the interactions of a spatially uniform electromagnetic mode with matter over a large area in arbitrary shapes. This unique optical property paves the way for many applications, including arbitrarily shaped high-transmission waveguides, nonlinear enhancement, and phase mismatch-free nonlinear signal generation, and collective emission of many emitters. This review summarizes the Dirac-like cone-based zero-index metamaterials’ fundamental physics, design, experimental realizations, and potential applications.