Refraction and rightness in photonic crystals

TL;DR

This paper investigates the relationship between refraction and rightness effects in 2D photonic crystals, revealing new phenomena such as left-handed positive refraction and mapping all possible refraction cases.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of refraction and rightness in 2D photonic crystals, including the first demonstration of left-handed positive refraction.

Findings

All possible refraction and rightness cases identified in the first three bands.

First demonstration of left-handed positive refraction in photonic crystals.

Left-handedness does not necessarily imply negative refraction.

Abstract

We present a study on relation between the refraction and rightness effects in photonic crystals applied on a 2D square lattice photonic crystal. The plane wave (the band and equifrequency contour analyses) and FDTD calculations for both TM and TE modes revealed all possible refraction and rightness cases in photonic crystal structures in the first three bands. In particular, we show for the first time, a possibility of the left-handed positive refraction. This means that left-handedness does not necessarily imply negative refraction in photonic crystals.