Chiral Electromagnetic Surface Waves on Chern-Simons Interfaces

Abstract

We show that Maxwell theory with a codimension-$1$ Chern-Simons interface supports chiral electromagnetic surface waves on the interface, even when the bulk theory on both sides is conventional vacuum electrodynamics in infinite space. Solving the exact boundary value problem we find that the Chern-Simons interaction acts with opposite sign on the two helicities oriented along the interface, giving rise to one normalizable mode localized on the interface. This mode is a gapless chiral surface photon with linear dispersion and a frequency-independent index of refraction set by the Chern-Simons coefficient. This mode exists despite the absence of ambient material response or geometric confinement.