Enlargement of omnidirectional reflection range in one-dimensional staggered photonic crystals containing negative refraction medium

A systematic study of the omnidirectional reflection range (ODR) of one-dimensional (1-D) staggered photonic crystals (PC) containing negative refraction medium (i.e., negative index medium (NIM)) is presented, based on numerical simulations performed with the well-known transfer-matrix method without any simplifying assumptions. It is found that total omnidirectional reflected frequency band is enlarged considerably by using onedimensional photonic crystal structure composed of alternate layers of positive index material (PIM) and NIM. We discover that the ODR in staggered 1-D PCs range can be significantly broadened in a staggered structural design.