Mirror that does not change the phase of reflected waves

We report that electromagnetic wave reflected from a flat metallic mirror superimposed with a planar wavy metallic structure with subwavelength features that resemble "fish scales" reflects like a conventional mirror without diffraction, but shows no phase change with respect to the incident wave. Such unusual behavior resembles a reflection from a hypothetical zero refractive index material, or "magnetic wall". We also discovered that the structure acts as a local field concentrator and a resonant "amplifier" of losses in the underlying dielectric. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.