Negative refractive index for a surface magnetostatic wave propagating through the boundary between a ferrite and ferrite-insulator-metal media

Refraction of a slow surface electromagnetic wave (magnetostatic wave) at the boundary between ferrite and ferrite-insulator-metal media is investigated experimentally and theoretically. The boundary is created in an yttrium iron garnet film by placing a metal plate at a certain distance from its surface. The refractive index is found to depend on the angle of incidence of the wave and can take on any positive or negative values. It is shown that in anisotropic media, in particular, in ferromagnets, due to the noncollinearity of the wave vector and the group velocity vector, negative refraction can occur not only in the earlier predicted case where the incident wave is forward and the refracted wave is backward, but also in the case where both waves are forward.