Diamagnetic Response of Metallic Photonic Crystals at Infrared and Visible Frequencies

Abstract

We show analytically and numerically that diamagnetic response (effective magnetic permeability ${\mu }_e<1$) at infrared and visible frequencies can be achieved in photonic crystals composed of metallic nanowires or nanospheres when the wavelength $\lambda$ is much larger than the lattice constant $a$ ($\lambda \sim 2000a$). When $\lambda \sim 100a$, the metallic photonic crystals will exhibit strong diamagnetic response (${\mu }_e<0.8$), leading to many interesting phenomena such as the unusual Brewster angle for $s$ waves and incident-angle-and-polarization-independent reflection and transmission.