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

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.