Nondiffractive propagation of light in photonic crystals

Abstract

We investigate nondiffractive propagation of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, through materials with a periodic space modulation of the refraction index, i.e., through photonic crystals. We calculate analytically and numerically the regimes where the dominating order of diffraction vanishes, i.e., the light beams of arbitrary width propagate without diffractive broadening and, equivalently, arbitrary light patterns can propagate without diffractive "smearing." We investigate the subdiffractive light propagation, where the propagation is governed by the higher (fourth) diffraction order, when the dominating order of diffraction vanishes.