Highly controlled Bloch wave propagation in surfaces with broken symmetry

Abstract

We propose and demonstrate reduced symmetry photonic surfaces providing highly controlled Bloch wave propagation. The backward and dual directional propagations have been observed in the proposed low-symmetric periodic structures without variation in the unit-cell filling factor. Frequency-domain analyses present group indices up to negative/positive −237∕ 96 as strong indicators of the observed directional controlled surface waves driven by the orientation angle in the range of 20°–90°. Further verification of the index-based propagation direction has been achieved through detailed time-domain analyses and microwave experiments. Smart management of the propagation direction in low-symmetric surfaces has great potential for next-generation photonic applications.