Coupling between opposite-parity modes in parallel photonic crystal waveguides and its application in unidirectional light transmission

Directional coupling between the even- and odd-parity modes of two parallel dissimilar linear defect waveguides in a square photonic crystal of cylindrical air holes in dielectric background is numerically demonstrated. Projected band-structure computations through the plane-wave expansion method reveal that high-efficiency coupling can be achieved in a frequency range of approximately 9 % extent around the central frequency. Coupling occurs if one row of spacing is maintained between the waveguides supporting even and odd modes, which are composed of annular air holes with outer radii equal to the photonic crystal’s scatterer radii and inner radii of 0.19 and 0.44 periods, respectively. Extinction ratio for coupling from the even to odd mode at the central frequency is 4.0 dB. Coupling length calculated through finite-difference time-domain simulations is approximately 25 periods at the central frequency, in agreement with the estimation through band diagram. Unidirectional light transmission is also demonstrated through finite-difference time-domain simulations, provided that waveguide and coupling lengths are equal. Forward and reverse transmittances of 71 and 0.3 %, respectively, are achieved at the central operation frequency in a 25-period system.     

Plasmonic Brewster angle: broadband extraordinary transmission through optical gratings

Extraordinary optical transmission through metallic gratings is a well established effect based on the collective resonance of corrugated screens. Being based on plasmonic resonances, its bandwidth is inherently narrow, in particular, for thick screens and narrow apertures. We introduce here a different mechanism to achieve total transmission through an otherwise opaque screen, based on an ultrabroadband tunneling that can span from dc to the visible range at a given incidence angle. This phenomenon effectively represents the equivalent of Brewster transmission for plasmonic and opaque screens.     

二维光子晶体平行多波导的传输光谱研究

采用时域有限差分法研究二维光子晶体两平行直波导以及三平行直波导的传输特性。计算结果表明,两平行波导在不同的频率范围内表现出不同的耦合特性：在高频段两波导表现出相互的能量交换,实现光耦合,而在低频段传输谱图重合,各波导传输光强均为入射光强的二分之一;对于三波导系统,发现在不同的频率范围内主波导与两耦合波导之间也表现出不同的耦合特性：在高频段两耦合波导与主波导实现光耦合,而在低频段两耦合波导与主波导的传输谱图同步变化,耦合波导的传输光强均约为入射光强的四分之一。     

Adiabatic coupling between conventional dielectric waveguides and waveguides with discrete translational symmetry

We study adiabatic transformation in optical waveguides with discrete translational symmetry. We calculate the reflection and transmission coefficient for a structure consisting of a slab waveguide that is adiabatically transformed into a photonic crystal waveguide and then back into a slab waveguide. The calculation yields high transmission over a wide frequency range of the photonic crystal waveguide band and indicates efficient coupling between the slab waveguide and the photonic crystal waveguide. Other applications of adiabatic mode transformation in photonic crystal waveguides and the coupled-resonator optical waveguides are also discussed.     

A three-dimensional frequency selective structure based on the modes coupling of spoof surface plasmon and waveguide transmission

A three-dimensional frequency selective structure (3D FSS) was proposed by applying the spoof surface plasmon (SSP) structures into periodic waveguides, which realizes an enhanced broadband transmission in low frequencies, below the cut-off frequency of periodic waveguides. The transmission characteristics of SSP structures and periodic waveguides as well as their coupling modes are investigated by simulation and experiment method. According to our analysis, the pass-band of this 3D FSS can be customized through changing the values of structure parameters and it also has a good angular stability. In addition, this paper also provides a simple assembly plan for sample preparation. This proposal may be useful for improving filtering performances and gives an effective approach for designing 3D FSSs.     

Resonant crossover of terahertz loss to the gain of a Bloch oscillating InAs/AlSb superlattice

Terahertz absorption in waveguides loaded with InAs/AlSb super-superlattice mesas reveals a frequency dependent crossover from loss to gain that is related to the Stark ladder produced by an applied dc electric field. Electric field domains appear to be suppressed in the super-superlattice composed of many very short segments of superlattice, interrupted by heavily doped InAs regions. Resonant crossover is indicated by an increase in terahertz transmission as the Stark splitting or Bloch frequency determined by the applied dc electric field exceeds the measurement frequency.     

Investigation of the thickness of Ag, AgI films in the capillary for hollow waveguides

A metallic (Ag)–dielectric (AgI) hollow glass waveguide is a promising and flexible fiber for the delivery of high-power CO₂ laser radiation. The thickness of metallic (Ag) films and dielectric (AgI) films is a critical factor which greatly influences the attenuation of the waveguides. In this paper, metallic (Ag)–dielectric (AgI) films were successfully prepared in the capillary whose inner diameter is 0.53 mm, and firstly investigated with theoretical analysis and measured by means of AES and SEM. There is good agreement between theoretical thickness and experimental results, which confirms the validity of the theoretical analysis, which makes the estimate of the thickness of both the metallic and dielectric films possible with high accuracy prior to the preparation of hollow glass waveguides. The attenuation spectra of Ag/AgI hollow waveguides shows the loss increases with the thickness of Ag, AgI films and indicates that the Ag/AgI hollow waveguide is suitable for the transmission of IR radiation.     

基于波导间能量耦合效应的光子晶体频段选择与能量分束器

基于波导间能量耦合效应的光子晶体功率分束器具有结构紧凑、带宽较宽、弯曲损耗低、分光角度大和不受外界电磁场干扰等优点.本文利用时域有限差分方法,理论研究了二维三角晶格光子晶体耦合波导的功率分束特性,设计得出了一种能够在宽频谱范围内针对不同频率区间实现不同分光比的功能器件.在此基础上通过改变耦合区介质柱形状以及输出分支波导与能量耦合波导的连接位置,最终针对三个相邻频率范围内的入射光信号,较好地实现了三均分、二均分、单一输出通道这3种能量分配输出模式.该功能器件具有透过率对比度高、结构紧凑等特性,对于发展全光功能器件在大规模全光复杂集成领域内的实际应用具有一定的促进作用.     

Experimental demonstration of electromagnetic tunneling through an epsilon-near-zero metamaterial at microwave frequencies

Silveirinha and Engheta have recently proposed that electromagnetic waves can tunnel through a material with an electric permittivity (epsilon) near zero (ENZ). An ENZ material of arbitrary geometry can thus serve as a perfect coupler between incoming and outgoing waveguides with identical cross-sectional area, so long as one dimension of the ENZ is electrically small. In this Letter we present an experimental demonstration of microwave tunneling between two planar waveguides separated by a thin ENZ channel. The ENZ channel consists of a planar waveguide in which complementary split ring resonators are patterned on the lower surface. A tunneling passband is found in transmission measurements, while a two-dimensional spatial map of the electric field distribution reveals a uniform phase variation across the channel--both measurements in agreement with theory and numerical simulations.     

Transmission Frequency Properties of Elastic Waves along a Hetero-Phononic Crystal Waveguide

We investigate the propagation properties of hetero-phononic crystal waveguides by the improved eigen-mode matching theory, which can be used at same time to calculate both the transmission （reflection） coefficient and band structure. The numerical results show that the transmission frequency range is the same as the common range for two uniform waveguides composing the hereto-system, and the gap of any composite waveguide is also the gap of the hetero-phononic crystals waveguide.     

Flexible Control of Light Propagation Using a Novel Photonic Crystal Hetero-Waveguide Based on Silicon-on-Insulator Slab

We demonstrate a photonic crystal hetero-waveguide based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) slab, consisting of two serially connected width-reduced photonic crystal waveguides with different radii of the air holes adjacent to the waveguide. We show theoretically that the transmission window of the structure corresponds to the transmission range common to both waveguides and it is in inverse proportion to the discrepancy between the two waveguides. Also the group velocity of guided mode can be changed from low to high or high to low, depending on which port of the structure the signal is input from just in the same device, and the variation is proportional to the discrepancy between the two waveguides. Using this novel structure, we realize flexible control of transmission window and group velocity of guided mode simultaneously.     

Compact wavelength-insensitive fabrication-tolerant silicon-on-insulator beam splitter

A star coupler-based beam splitter for rib waveguides is reported. A design method is presented and applied in the case of silicon-on-insulator rib waveguides. Experimental results are in good agreement with simulations. Excess loss lower than 1 dB is experimentally obtained for star coupler lengths from 0.5 to 1 μm. Output balance is better than 1 dB, which is the measurement accuracy, and broadband transmission is obtained over 90 nm.     

相位失配弹性平板复合波导中的缺陷态*

为了在弹性波波导中实现缺陷态的调控,该文基于相位失配原理设计了一种周期性平板波导结构。以正弦边界弹性波导为例,通过连接具有不同相位的两段波导结构,形成了弹性板中不同程度的缺陷,并分析了其谱带特性和能量局域化特征。结果表明,禁带中存在两个不同模式的缺陷态,其以透射峰形式出现并随着相位的改变产生频移。与此同时,两个缺陷态在空间上对应的应力场和位移场分布也具有不同的模态特征。该文提出的复合弹性波导缺陷态调控方法,不仅为研究弹性波与结构之间的内在联系提供了关键的理论支持,也为实际弹性波探测器件的设计提供重要参考。     

折叠矩形槽波导行波管输入输出过渡波导

为了将槽波导端与标准矩形波导相连接,设计了一种适用于折叠槽波导结构行波管的输入输出过渡波导, 可将其视为槽宽渐变的双槽加载矩形波导。利用电磁仿真软件CST微波工作室对该结构进行仿真计算,讨论了各个结构参数对其性能的影响。对比了直线渐变、抛物线渐变和指数渐变3种槽宽渐变规律在W波段对其传输特性及损耗特性的影响。研究结果表明:指数渐变结构的驻波系数小于1.15的带宽比其他两种结构都要宽,且在90~99 GHz、驻波系数小于1.25时,该结构的整体长度也远小于另外两种结构,能够实现良好的过渡效果; 而直线渐变结构的损耗在90~97 GHz为最低。     

Experimental realization of highly efficient broadband coupling of single quantum dots to a photonic crystal waveguide

We present time-resolved spontaneous emission measurements of single quantum dots embedded in photonic crystal waveguides. Quantum dots that couple to a photonic crystal waveguide are found to decay up to 27 times faster than uncoupled quantum dots. From these measurements beta-factors of up to 0.89 are derived, and an unprecedented large bandwidth of 20 nm is demonstrated. This shows the promising potential of photonic crystal waveguides for efficient single-photon sources. The scaled frequency range over which the enhancement is observed is in excellent agreement with recent theoretical proposals taking into account that the light-matter coupling is strongly enhanced due to the significant slow-down of light in the photonic crystal waveguides.     

Design of circular ARC finline tapers

The aim of this paper is the development of a technological simple procedure for the fabrication of tapers in finline technique with a high transmission and low reflection characteristics. This method employs tapers between rectangular waveguides and finline sections or between two electrically different waveguides in form of circular arcs which are matched to the required lapse of the slot width as a function of the characteristic impedance. The appicability of this method assumes that the transmission properties of the considered finline are known. Several examples show the feasibility of the method.     

Mode propagation of ultrasound in hollow waveguides

It has previously been shown that there is close agreement between theoretical and experimental behaviour of pulses of ultrasound propagating in solid cylindrical waveguides. Waveguides are used in a number of areas of medical ultrasonics and it is therefore important to be able to model sound propagation in them accurately. This paper extends the analysis of guided wave propagation to hollow waveguides. In particular, frequency spectra of modes of progagation are given and theoretical group velocity curves are compared with experimental results. Signal strengths of modes propagating in both solid and hollow stainless steel waveguides of similar cross-sectional area are also compared.     

Transmission Characteristics of 90° Bent Photonic Crystal Waveguides

There are several key factors that affect the transmission characteristics of the 90° (L-shaped) bent photonic crystal waveguides. The first factor is the direct coupling efficiency from the incident lights into the waveguides. The second one is the bandgap deviations of the photonic crystals. And the third factor is the optical reflections in the bent corners. In this article, we compare three types of L-shaped bent photonic crystal waveguides. One is the original type, which has an abrupt right-angle bend. Another is an improved 90° bend with a 45°-mirror. The other is an L-shaped bent photonic crystal waveguide with a 45°-transitional section. We investigate their respective frequency responses and observe the improvements in the total transmission efficiencies provided by the latter types.     

Analysis of adiabatic coupling between photonic crystal single-line-defect and coupled-resonator optical waveguides

A detailed analysis of adiabatic coupling between conventional photonic crystal single-line-defect and coupled-resonator optical waveguides is reported. Adiabatic coupling by progressive variation of the radii of the spacing defects between cavities is investigated. Flat transmission spectra with coupling efficiencies greater than 90% are achieved in a broad frequency range with short coupling lengths. Moreover, we find that flat transmission at low frequencies requires longer coupling lengths partly because the requirements imposed for adiabatic transmission in photonic crystals are violated.     

Stamp printing of silicon-nanomembrane-based photonic devices onto flexible substrates with a suspended configuration

In this Letter, we demonstrate for the first time (to our best knowledge) stamp printing of silicon nanomembrane (SiNM)-based in-plane photonic devices onto a flexible substrate using a modified transfer printing method that utilizes a suspended configuration, which can adjust the adhesion between the released SiNM and the "handle" silicon wafer. With this method, 230 nm thick, 30 μm wide, and up to 5.7 cm long SiNM-based waveguides are transferred to flexible Kapton films with >90% transfer yield. The propagation loss of the transferred waveguides is measured to be ~1.1 dB/cm. Scalability of this approach to transfer intricate structures, such as photonic crystal waveguides and multimode interference couplers with a minimum feature size of 200 nm and 2 μm, respectively, is also demonstrated.