Surface-wave photonic quasicrystal

Abstract

In developing strategies of manipulating surface electromagnetic waves, it has been recently recognized that a complete forbidden band gap can exist in a periodic surface-wave photonic crystal, which has subsequently produced various surface-wave photonic devices. However, it is not obvious whether such a concept can be extended to a non-periodic surface-wave system that lacks translational symmetry. Here we experimentally demonstrate that a surface-wave photonic quasicrystal that lacks periodicity can also exhibit a forbidden band gap for surface electromagnetic waves. The lower cutoff of this forbidden band gap is mainly determined by the maximum separation between nearest neighboring pillars. Point defects within this band gap show distinct properties compared to a periodic photonic crystal for the absence of translational symmetry. A line-defect waveguide, which is crafted out of this surface-wave photonic quasicrystal by shortening a random row of metallic rods, is also demonstrated to guide and bend surface waves around sharp corners along an irregular waveguiding path.