Effect of a magnetic field on a two-dimensional metallic photonic crystal

Abstract

We study the effect of a static magnetic field on the band structure of a two-dimensional metallic photonic crystal (MPC). The band structure of the MPC has been calculated using the transfer matrix method. It is found that the position of the photonic band gap and the band edges of the MPC depends on the polarization of the incident light and intensity of the applied magnetic field. In our calculations we consider linearly polarized light as well as right- and left-circularly polarized light. In the case of right-circularly polarized light it is found that as the intensity of the magnetic field increases the width of the band gap of the crystal decreases. At a certain magnetic field strength the band gap disappears altogether. In other words there is a transition from a metallic photonic band gap material to a transparent dielectric material. This is an interesting effect which is similar to the metal-insulator transition that occurs in semiconductors. On the other hand, for left-circularly and linear polarized light the band edges shift to the higher energy and the band gap increases in the presence of a magnetic field. This implies that the MPC switches from a transparent state to reflecting states due to the application of the magnetic field. This is an interesting effect which might be used to make photonic switches.