We have characterized the robust propagation modes of electromagnetic waves in helical structures by the section Chern number that is defined for a two-dimensional (2D) section of the three-dimensional (3D) Brillouin zone. The Weyl point in the photonic bands is associated with a discontinuous jump of the section Chern number. A spatially localized Gaussian basis set is used to calculate the section Chern numbers where we have implemented the divergence-free condition on each basis function in 3D. The validity of the bulk-edge correspondence in a 3D photonic crystal is discussed in relation to the broken inversion symmetry.

• Received 23 June 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.125125