A symmetry-protected exceptional ring in a photonic crystal with negative index media

Abstract: Non-Hermitian topological band structures such as symmetry-protected exceptional rings (SPERs) can emerge for systems described by the generalized eigenvalue problem (GEVP) with Hermitian matrices. In this paper, we numerically analyze a photonic crystal with negative index media, which is described by the GEVP with Hermitian matrices. Our analysis using COMSOL Multiphysics demonstrates that a SPER emerges for photonic crystals composed of split-ring resonators and metal-wire structures. We expect that the above SPER can be observed in experiments as it emerges at a finite frequency.