Properties of the angular gap in one-dimensional periodic structures containing left-handed metamaterials

摘要

Wave propagation is investigated in one-dimensional periodic structures containing layers of left-handed metamaterials. For a special choice of parameters, an angular gap appears due to total internal reflection in a certain frequency region. This gap has been found insensitive to the polarization of light and the length scale of the periodic structure for linear wave propagation. We have studied phenomenon of bistability related to this gap for nonlinear wave propagation. As far as the sign of the Kerr nonlinearity is concerned, the said gap shows the same character as that related to the Bragg gap. It is further shown that the bistable character related to the gap is sensitive to the polarization of the incident radiation and length scale of the periodic structure.