Plane-wave diffraction by periodic structures with artificial anisotropic dielectrics

Abstract

Periodic structures with artificial anisotropic dielectrics are studied. The artificialanisotropic dielectric material in this work is made of two alternating isotropicdielectric layers. By a proper choice of the dielectric constant of the layers, we canrealize a uniaxial anisotropic medium with controllable anisotropy. The artificialanisotropic dielectric is then used in periodic structures. For these structures, theoptical axis of the artificial dielectric is assumed to be parallel or perpendicularto the period of the structure. Diffraction of plane waves by these structuresis analyzed by a fully vectorial rigorous matrix method based on a generalizedtransmission line (TL) formulation. The propagation constants and field distributionsare computed and diffraction properties of such structures are studied to showthat, by a proper choice of structural parameters, these periodic structures withartificial anisotropic dielectrics can be used as polarizers or polarizing mirrors.