Existence of an omni-directional photonic band gap in one-dimensional periodic dielectric structures

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that one-dimensional periodic dielectric structures can exhibit a complete omni-directional photonic band gap, enabling total reflection for all incident angles within a certain frequency range, challenging the notion that higher-dimensional structures are necessary.

Contribution

It introduces the concept that one-dimensional photonic crystals can have omni-directional gaps, expanding the design possibilities for photonic devices.

Findings

One-dimensional photonic crystals can exhibit total omni-directional reflection.

A wide range of fabrication parameters can achieve the omni-directional gap.

The omni-directional gap exists within specific frequency regions.

Abstract

It is shown that total reflection for all incident angles does not require a two- or three-dimensional photonic crystal. We demonstrate that a one-dimensional photonic crystal can exhibit total omni-directional reflection for any incident wave within some frequency region. The formation of the omni-directional gap is discussed and a wide range of realistic fabrication parameters is proposed.