ETD

• 1d photonic crystals
• anisotropic media
• hyperbolic metamaterials
• scattering matrix
• surface modes
• transfer matrix

In this thesis, we analyzed the main features of bulk and surface waves in some non-magnetic anisotropic multilayer systems, including periodic ones. This field has been a subject of study since the first works concerning the optics of crystals and then was further developed in the context of engineered materials and plasmonics. Anisotropy may give rise to peculiar phenomena such as birefringence, optical activity and Faraday's rotation, which can be exploited to build optical devices with specific applications. We focused on HMMs and gyroelectric media, such as an electron plasma placed in an external magnetic field. We analyzed some analytical techniques which can handle reflection and transmission problems involving finite anisotropic multilayer systems and have discussed original results concerning novel configurations. We have also discussed what happens to bulk and surface modes in specifically designed 1D anisotropic photonic crystals, which could lead to the improvement of many applications – from near-field imaging to surface-plasmon resonance sensing.