title: Photonic band gap from a stack of positive and negative index materials.
abstract: Layered heterostructures combining ordinary and negative refractive index materials are shown to display a new type of photonic band gap corresponding to zero (volume) averaged refractive index. Distinct from band gaps induced by Bragg scattering, the zero-n; gap is invariant upon a change of scale length and is insensitive to disorder that is symmetric in the random variable. A metallic structure that exhibits such a band gap is explicitly designed, and its properties are calculated with accurate finite difference time domain simulations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Jensen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sheng