Near-infrared photonic band gaps and nonlinear effects in negative magnetic metamaterials

We describe and characterize a nanostructured metallic photonic crystal metamaterial which is magnetically active in the near-infrared region of the spectrum. The periodic array of modified split-ring resonator structures is numerically demonstrated to have a negative effective permeability at telecommunications wavelengths. Local electric fields in the structure can be many orders of magnitude larger than in free space thus allowing for enhanced nonlinear effects. We have derived an expression for the change in the resonance frequency of the structure due to the Kerr nonlinear index change and estimate a characteristic magnetic field strength for the observation of bistable behavior.