title: Negative radiation pressure and negative effective refractive index via dielectric birefringence.
abstract: We show that light guided in a planar dielectric slab geometry incorporating a biaxial medium has lossless modes with group and phase velocities in opposite directions. Particles in a vacuum gap inserted into the structure experience negative radiation pressure: the particles are pulled by light rather than pushed by it. This effectively one-dimensional dielectric structure represents a new geometry for achieving negative radiation pressure in a wide range of frequencies with minimal loss. Moreover, this geometry provides a straightforward platform for experimentally resolving the Abrahams-Minkowski dilemma.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nemirovsky
authors.forename: Mikael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Rechtsman
authors.forename: Mordechai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Segev