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Electromagnetic radiation mediated by topological surface states

M. Ibarra-Meneses* and A. Martín-Ruiz†

  • Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 04510 Ciudad de México, México

  • *Contact author: martin_i@ciencias.unam.mx
  • †Contact author: alberto.martin@nucleares.unam.mx
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Phys. Rev. D 113, 076002 – Published 2 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2y93-2fmn

Abstract

We study electromagnetic radiation from classical sources near a planar interface separating a topological and a trivial insulator, modeled within axion electrodynamics. The system features a piecewise constant θ term that encodes the magnetoelectric response of topological surface states. Treating this coupling perturbatively, we derive analytical corrections to the standard Liénard-Wiechert potentials and obtain modified radiation fields in the far zone. As applications, we analyze the emission from linear antennas and the bremsstrahlung radiation of accelerated charges near the interface. For antennas, the surface Hall response breaks axial symmetry and produces azimuthal modulations that grow with the electrical length, leading to distinct scaling behaviors in the total and angular radiated power. For accelerated charges, the emitted intensity is uniformly reduced by a factor 1−(σHall/2εv)2, which we interpret as a process-specific attenuation of the radiative strength due to interference with its image magnetic monopole inside the topological medium. These results reveal how topological surface states mediate measurable modifications to classical radiation, establishing a link between axion electrodynamics, topological phases, and field theories with spatially varying couplings.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 076002– Published 2 April, 2026
  • Received 2 November 2025
  • Accepted 9 February 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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