Eur. Phys. J. B 78, 7-12 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2010-00298-7

Polarization-independent omnidirectional band gaps in heterostructures containing negative-index materials

¹ School of Scinece, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, P.R. China
² State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, P.R. China
³ Institute for Advanced Study, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, P.R. China

Corresponding author: ^a xhdengxh@yahoo.com.cn

Received: 15 March 2010
Revised: 9 August 2010
Published online: 28 October 2010

Abstract

We proposed a type of heterostructure by combining two photonic crystals (PCs) consisting of alternating negative-index materials and positive-index materials layers. It is demonstrated by transfer matrix method that the proposed structure has a polarization-independent omnidirectional band gap (OBG), which is independent of the incident angle for both TE and TM polarizations. Compared to a single PC, the frequency range of the OBG in a heterostructure can be notably enlarged. Such a structure has potential applications in improving planar microcavities, optical fibers, and Fabry-Pérot resonators, etc.