Amphoteric refraction at the interface between isotropic and anisotropic media

Hailu Luo, Wei Hu, Xunong Yi, Haiying Liu, and Jing Zhu Laboratory of Light Transmission Optics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510630, China (Dated: June 8, 2006) Abstract It is found that the amphoteric refraction, i.e. the refraction can be either positive or negative depending on the incident angles, could occur at a planar interface associated with a uniaxially anisotropic positive index media (PIM) or an anisotropic negative index media (NIM). Particularly, the anomalous negative refraction can occur at a planar interface from an isotropic PIM to an anisotropic PIM, whereas the anomalous positive refraction occurs at the interface from an isotropic PIM to an anisotropic NIM. The optimal conditions to yield the two unusual refractions are obtained. The difference of the two types of amphoteric refraction is discussed.