Experimental demonstration of bending and splitting of self-collimated beams in two-dimensional photonic crystals

Abstract
The authors have experimentally demonstrated the bending and splitting phenomena of self-collimated microwave beams in a two-dimensional square lattice photonic crystal composed of alumina rods. The bending and splitting were achieved by introducing a line defect in the photonic crystal. The power ratio of two split beams can be controlled by varying the radii of rods in the line defect.