Linkage between anisotropic and gyrotropic degenerate bandgaps

Formation of bandgaps in a one-dimensional magnetophotonic crystal made of anisotropic uniaxial materials with gyrotropy was studied. In such a crystal two types of degenerate bandgaps can appear at the same frequencies: anisotropic bandgaps (at no magnetization and angularly offset optical axes of the layers\u27 materials) and gyrotropic bandgaps (at magnetization and collinear optical axes). A linkage between such degenerate bandgaps was studied. Abandgap of one type becomes wider if the formation mechanism for the bandgap of the other type is turned on. The width of such a combined bandgap was determined to be a function of only the widths of the respective anisotropic and gyrotropic degenerate bandgaps and to not depend explicitly on any other parameters. ©2011 Optical Society of America