Photonic band gap from a stack of positive and negative index materials

Layered heterostructures combining ordinary and negative refractive index materials are shown to display a new type of photonic band gap corresponding to zero (volume) averaged refractive index. Distinct from band gaps induced by Bragg scattering, the zero-(n) over bar gap is invariant upon a change of scale length and is insensitive to disorder that is symmetric in the random variable. A metallic structure that exhibits such a band gap is explicitly designed, and its properties are calculated with accurate finite difference time domain simulations.