Microwave photonic crystal with tailor-made negative refractive index

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates negative refraction in a microwave photonic crystal with precise control over its refractive index, validated by experiments and numerical calculations, advancing design capabilities for left-handed electromagnetism.

Contribution

It presents the first experimental demonstration of negative refraction in a metallic photonic crystal with tunable refractive index, confirmed by accurate numerical modeling.

Findings

Negative refraction observed in microwave photonic crystal

Refractive index tunable between -0.6 and +1

Excellent agreement between experiments and simulations

Abstract

Negative refraction and left-handed electromagnetism in a metallic photonic crystal (PC) wedge are demonstrated in free space for both transverse magnetic and electric mode propagation. The experimental results are in excellent agreement with numerical calculations based on the band structure with no fit parameters used in modeling. The results demonstrate precision control on the design and fabrication of the PC to achieve tailor-made refractive indices between -0.6 and +1.