Negative refraction and left-handed properties in two-dimensional photonic crystals

We report on the negative refraction and left-handed behavior of two-dimensional photonic crystals. For the triangular two-dimensional photonic crystals there are two saddle points and a key point in the first Brillouin zone for the second band, which play important role to determine the refraction phenomena. There is no determined relation between the left-handed behavior and the negative refraction. The refraction phenomena depend on the band structure and the configuration of the incident light. For the first configuration, the first Brillouin zone can be divided into three parts. In part I there are negative refraction and left-handed behaviors. In part II there are normal refraction and left-handed behaviors. In part III there are normal refraction and right-handed behaviors. For the second configuration, the first Brillouin zone can only be divided into two parts. For these complex refraction phenomena, it is meaningless to define the phase refractive index, and it is necessary to define the effective refraction index by a Snell-like formula, and the value of the effective index is determined by the configuration and the band structure. (C) 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.