Negative Refraction and Imaging Using 12-fold-Symmetry Quasicrystals

Zhifang Feng, Xiangdong Zhang, Yiquan Wang, Zhi-Yuan Li, Bingying Cheng, and Dao-Zhong Zhang

Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 247402 – Published 23 June 2005

Abstract

Recently, negative refraction of electromagnetic waves in photonic crystals was demonstrated experimentally and subwavelength images were observed. However, these investigations all focused on the periodic structure. Here, we report a new theoretical and experimental finding that negative refraction can appear in some transparent quasicrystalline photonic structures. The photonic quasicrystals (PQCs) exhibit an effective refractive index close to $- 1$ in a certain frequency window. The index shows small spatial dispersion, consistent with the nearly homogeneous geometry of the quasicrystal. More interestingly, a superlens based on the 2D PQCs can form a non-near-field subwavelength image whose position varies with the source distance. These properties make PQCs promising for application in a range of optical devices.