Photonic properties of metallic-mean quasiperiodic chains

The light propagation through a stack of two media with different refractive indices, which are aligned according to different quasiperiodic sequences determined by metallic means, is studied using the transfer matrix method. The focus lies on the investigation of the influence of the underlying quasiperiodic sequence as well as the dependence of the transmission on the frequency, the incidence angle of the light wave and different ratios of the refractive indices. In contrast to a periodically aligned stack we find complete transmission for the quasiperiodic systems for a wide range of different refractive indices for small incidence angles. Additional bands of moderate transmission occur for frequencies in the range of the photonic band gaps of the periodic system. Further, for fixed indices of refraction we find a range of almost perfect transmission for angles close to the angle of total reflection, which is caused by the bending of photonic transmission bands towards higher frequencies for increasing incidence angles. Comparing with the results of a periodic stack the quasiperiodicity seems to have only an influence in the region around the midgap frequency of a periodic stack. Copyright EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010