Angular beam width of a slit-diffracted wave with noncollinear group and phase velocities

Taking magnetostatic surface wave diffraction as an example, this paper theoretically investigates the 2D diffraction pattern arising in the far-field region of a ferrite slab in the case of a plane wave with noncollinear group and phase velocities incident on a wide, arbitrarily oriented slit in an opaque screen. A universal analytical formula for the angular width of a diffracted beam is derived, which is valid for magnetostatic and other types of waves in anisotropic media and structures (including metamaterials) in 2D geometries. It is shown that the angular width of a diffracted beam in an anisotropic medium can not only take values greater or less than $\lambda _0/D$ (where $\lambda _0$ is the incident wavelength, and $D$ is the slit width), but can also be zero under certain conditions.