Manipulating electromagnetic radiation with magnetic photonic crystals

We examine manipulating electromagnetic waves in magnetic photonic crystals (MPCs) with external magnetic fields. We predict new giant magnetoreflectivity and giant magnetorefractivity effects: with an external magnetic field of a magnitude much smaller than the anisotropy field of the ferromagnet, the MPC can be changed from completely reflecting to nonreflecting with corresponding changes in the angle of refraction. Application to the storage of electromagnetic radiation is also discussed. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.