Properties of the angular gap in a one dimensional photonic band gap structure containing single negative materials

TL;DR

This paper investigates the properties of the angular gap in one-dimensional photonic structures with single negative materials, highlighting its dependence on incident angle and polarization, and electric field enhancement at the gap edge.

Contribution

It reveals how the angular gap forms at oblique incidence due to total internal reflection and zero refractive index, and explores electric field enhancement for potential applications.

Findings

Angular gap forms at oblique incidence due to total internal reflection.

The gap's position is sensitive to incident angle and polarization.

Electric field is highly enhanced at the gap edge for TM polarization.

Abstract

The linear properties of the angular gap in a one dimensional photonic band gap structure containing single negative material layers are investigated. This gap forms at oblique incidence due to total internal reflection into air when the Snell's law breaks down and its lower edge occurs at the frequency where the refractive index of one or both layers of the structure approaches zero. This gap is found to be highly sensitive to the incident angle and the polarization of light, but is not affected by thickness ratio of the layers. It is also shown that the electric field is extremely enhanced at the low frequency edge of this gap for transverse magnetic polarization. This highly enhanced electric field can be used for certain applications.