A novel polarization channel drop filter based on two-dimensional photonic crystals

<正>A novel polarization channel drop filter(PCDF) based on two-dimensional(2D) photonic crystals(PCs) is presented.It consists of two line defect waveguides and two point defect micro-cavities.In the line-defect waveguides,the transverse-electric(TE) and transverse-magnetic(TM) polarization lights are guided using photonic band-gap and total internal reflection effect,respectively.The light at the resonant frequency for TE polarization can be transferred from one waveguide to the other using the proposed system.Compared with the existing four-port PCDF based on PCs,the three-port structure can realize a multi-channel wavelength system of PCDF more easily and can be an essential device in future polarization wavelength division multiplexing(PWDM) systems.     

Coupling into slow-mode photonic crystal waveguides

We study efficient injectors for coupling light from z-invariant ridge waveguides into slow Bloch modes of single-row defect photonic crystal waveguides. Two-dimensional vectorial computations performed with a Bloch mode theory approach predict that very high efficiencies (>90%) can be achieved for injector lengths of only a few wavelengths in length, even for small group velocities in the range of c/100-c/400. This result suggests that photonic crystal devices operating with slow waves can be interfaced with classical waveguides without sacrificing compactness.     

Slow light propagating characteristics through a two-dimensional silicon-based coupled-resonator optical waveguide

The light propagating characteristics of the coupled-resonator optical waveguides (CROWs) are studied by the finite-difference time-domain method. The circular CROWs are constructed by arranging the micro-cavities at a certain distance, which is constructed by removing the air holes along the edge of a circle from a two-dimensional (2D) triangular-lattice photonic crystal (PC). With the increasing of distance between the adjacent cavities, the group velocities of the guiding modes reduce significantly. The circular CROW studied in the paper have much minibands within the band gap, and their respective group velocities can be quite different from each other. This kind of CROW structure can provide different group velocities for the light signals with different frequencies, and avails to the separating and controlling the light signals in the all optic integrated circuits.     

Dual-frequency division de-multiplexer based on cascaded photonic crystal waveguides

A dual-frequency division de-multiplexing mechanism is demonstrated using cascaded photonic crystal waveguides with unequal waveguide widths. The de-multiplexing mechanism is based on the frequency shift of the waveguide bands for the unequal widths of the photonic crystal waveguides. The modulation in the waveguide bands is used for providing frequency selectivity to the system. The slow light regime of the waveguide bands is utilized for extracting the desired frequency bands from a wider photonic crystal waveguide that has a relatively larger group velocity than the main waveguide for the de-multiplexed frequencies. In other words, the wider spatial distribution of the electric fields in the transverse direction of the waveguide for slow light modes is utilized in order to achieve the dropping of the modes to the output channels. The spectral and spatial de-multiplexing features are numerically verified. It can be stated that the presented mechanism can be used to de-multiplex more than two frequency intervals by cascading new photonic crystal waveguides with properly selected widths.     

类石墨烯复杂晶胞光子晶体中的确定性界面态

拓扑绝缘体是当前凝聚态物理领域研究的热点问题.利用石墨烯材料的特殊能带特性来实现拓扑输运特性在设计下一代电子和能谷电子器件方面具有较广泛的应用前景.基于光子与电子的类比,利用光子拓扑材料实现了确定性界面态;构建了具有C_(6v)。对称性的类似石墨烯结构的的光子晶体复杂晶格;通过多种方式降低晶格对称性来获得具有C_(3v),C_3,C_(2v)和C_2对称的晶体,从而打破能谷简并实现全光子带隙结构;将体拓扑性质不同的两种光子晶体摆放在一起,在此具有反转体能带性质的界面上,实现了具有单向传输特性的拓扑确定性界面态的传输.利用光子晶体结构的容易加工性,可以简便地调控拓扑界面态控制光的传播,可为未来光拓扑绝缘体的研究提供良好的平台.     

Silicon-based two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguides

A review of the properties of silicon-based two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystals is given, essentially infinite 2D photonic crystals made from macroporous silicon and photonic crystal slabs based on silicon-on-insulator basis. We discuss the bulk photonic crystal properties with particular attention to the light cone and its impact on the band structure. The application for wave guiding is discussed for both material systems, and compared to classical waveguides based on index-guiding. Losses of resonant waveguide modes above the light line are discussed in detail.     

Study on the anisotropic photonic band gaps in three-dimensional tunable photonic crystals containing the epsilon-negative materials and uniaxial materials

In this paper, the properties of anisotropic photonic band gaps (PBGs) for three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals (PCs) composed of the anisotropic positive-index materials (the uniaxial materials) and the epsilon-negative (ENG) materials with body-centered-cubic (bcc) lattices are theoretically studied by a modified plane wave expansion (PWE) method, which are the uniaxial materials spheres inserted in the epsilon-negative materials background. The anisotropic photonic band gaps (PBGs) and one flatbands region can be achieved in first irreducible Brillouin zone. The influences of the ordinary-refractive index, extraordinary-refractive index, filling factor, the electronic plasma frequency, the dielectric constant of ENG materials and the damping factor on the properties of anisotropic PBGs for such 3D PCs are studied in detail, respectively, and some corresponding physical explanations are also given. The numerical results show that the anisotropy can open partial band gaps in such 3D PCs with bcc lattices composed of the ENG materials and uniaxial materials, and the complete PBGs can be obtained compared to the conventional 3D PCs containing the isotropic materials. The calculated results also show that the anisotropic PBGs can be manipulated by the parameters as mentioned above except for the damping factor. Introducing the uniaxial materials into 3D PCs containing the ENG materials can obtain the larger complete PBGs as such 3D PCs with high symmetry, and also provides a way to design the tunable devices.     

Extended plane-wave-based transfer-matrix approach to simulating dispersive photonic crystals

It has been difficult to compute the band structures and transmission spectra for photonic crystals (PCs) with dispersive components included in the periodic units. Here we show that by using an extended plane-wave-based transfer-matrix method, we are able to formulate the problem for computing optical properties of dispersive PCs, including magnetic and left-handed PCs. This approach is very general, since it can treat PCs with arbitrary Bravais lattice composed of materials with arbitrary dielectric permittivities and magnetic permeabilities. Combined with the supercell method, this method can further simulate defective PCs such as PC-based waveguides and microcavities.     

二维单斜点阵光子晶体的第一布里渊区及带隙计算

二维单斜点阵光子晶体在光学聚焦器件及光子晶体波导中有重要的应用价值，详细讨论了二维单斜点阵光子晶体的第一布里渊区及带隙计算，并与常规方法计算得出的二维正三角形晶格光子晶体的带隙结构进行了比较.最后讨论了临界条件下二维单斜点阵光子晶体的带隙结构，证明了本方法的有效性.     

Influences of supercell termination and lateral row number on the determination of slow light properties of photonic crystal waveguides

We systematically analyze the effects of the use of an inaccurate supercell termination and an insufficient supercell size of plane-wave expansion method on the dispersion and the slow light properties of the photonic crystal waveguides. The inattentive use of supercells of photonic crystal waveguides appeared in the literature is found to be yielding errors in the dispersion and slow light characteristics of the fundamental guided mode of photonic crystal waveguides. In addition, extra modes appear in the photonic band gap of the photonic crystal waveguide due to inaccurate supercell termination. By examining the field distribution of the modes, the extra modes can be determined and removed from the band diagram. The dispersion, group index and bandwidth characteristics are observed to be less affecting from inaccurate supercell termination as the number of rows adjacent to the waveguide increases. Moreover, the dispersion and the group index-frequency curves of the fundamental guided mode of correctly terminated supercells are found to be converging as the lateral row number along the line-defect is increased.     

Tunable photonic crystals with semiconducting constituents

We propose that the photonic band structure (PBS) of semiconductor-based photonic crystals (PCs) can be made tunable if the free-carrier density is sufficiently high. In this case, the dielectric constant of the semiconductor, modeled as varepsilon(omega) = varepsilon(0)(1-omega(2)(p)/omega(2)), depends on the temperature T and on the impurity concentration N through the plasma frequency omega(p). Then the PBS is strongly T and N dependent; it is even possible to obliterate a photonic band gap. This is shown by calculating the 2D PBS for PCs that incorporate either intrinsic InSb or extrinsic Ge.     

High-purity transmission of a slow light odd mode in a photonic crystal waveguide

We demonstrate a novel scheme to control the excitation symmetry for an odd mode in a photonic crystal waveguide and investigate the spectral signature of this slow light mode. An odd-mode Mach-Zehnder coupler is introduced to transform mode symmetry and excite a high-purity odd mode with 20?dB signal contrast over the background. Assisted by a mixed-mode Mach-Zehnder coupler, slow light mode beating can be observed and is utilized to determine the group index of this odd mode. With slow light enhancement, this odd mode can help enable novel miniaturized devices such as one-way waveguides.     

Compact triplexer in two-dimensional hexagonal lattice photonic crystals

We design a compact triplexer based on two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal lattice photonic crystals (PCs).A folded directional coupler (FDC) is introduced in the triplexer beside the point-defect micro-cavities and line-defect waveguides.Because of the reflection feedback of the FDC,high channel drop efficiency can be realized and a compact size with the order of micrometers can be maintained.The proposed device is analyzed using the plane wave expansion method,and its transmission characteristics are calculated using the finite-difference time-domain method.The footprint of the triplexer is about 12× 9 μm,and its extinction ratios are less than –20 dB for 1310 nm,approximately –20 dB for 1490 nm,and under –40 dB for 1550 nm,making it a potentially essential device in future fiber-to-the-home networks.     

Fabrication of three‐dimensional photonic crystals in quantum‐dot‐based materials

Controlling spontaneous emission (SE) is of fundamental importance to a diverse range of photonic applications including but not limited to quantum optics, low power displays, solar energy harvesting and optical communications. Characterized by photonic bandgap (PBG) property, three‐dimensional (3D) photonic crystals (PCs) have emerged as a promising synthetic material, which can manipulate photons in much the same way as a semiconductor does to electrons. Emission tunable nanocrystal quantum dots (QDs) are ideal point sources to be embedded into 3D PCs towards active devices. The challenge however lies in the combination of QDs with 3D PCs without degradation of their emission properties. Polymer materials stand out for this purpose due to their flexibility of incorporating active materials. Combining the versatile multi‐photon 3D micro‐fabrication techniques, active 3D PCs have been fabricated in polymer‐QD composites with demonstrated control of SE from QDs. With this milestone novel miniaturized photonic devices can thus be envisaged.     

空气环型二维光子晶体完全带隙特性研究

采用平面波展开法, 系统研究了空气环型二维光子晶体的完全光子带隙随结构参数变化而改变的规律, 并将其与普通的空气孔型和介质柱型二维光子晶体的完全带隙进行了比较. 研究表明: 空气环型二维光子晶体不仅可以获得更宽的完全带隙, 而且, 当介质折射率较低时, 其可以获得普通空气孔型和介质柱型二维光子晶体在低折射率条件下所无法获得的完全带隙. 关键词： 空气环型二维光子晶体 完全带隙 平面波展开法     

Optical soliton with group delay in microring coupled-resonator optical waveguides

This paper derives the dispersion relation of microring coupled-resonator optical waveguides (CROWs) without any approximation by using the transfer matrix method. Based on the established dispersion relation of CROWs it obtains the slow group velocity and dispersion coefficient. It finds that the effect of dispersion on optical pulses can be adjusted to balance the effect of nonlinearity by changing coupling coefficient or loss, so optical soliton with group delay can be obtained in microring CROWs. The optical soliton with group delay is of great significance for applications of microring CROWs in delay lines and optical buffers of future all-optical communication systems.     

Control of photonic band gaps in one-dimensional photonic crystals

The photonic band gaps in one-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs) are theoretically investigated. A new method to broaden the photonic band gaps is introduced. Based on the similar method, a kind of photonic crystals is constructed to generate photonic band gaps with proportioned central frequencies. This technology can be used for designing nonlinear PCs for harmonic generation.     

Tailoring dispersion properties of photonic crystal waveguides by topology optimization

The paper describes a systematic method for the tailoring of dispersion properties of slab-based photonic crystal waveguides. The method is based on the topology optimization method which consists in repeated finite element frequency domain analyzes, analytical sensitivity analyzes and gradient based design updates. The goal of the optimization process is to come up with slow light, zero group velocity dispersion photonic waveguides or photonic waveguides with tailored dispersion properties for dispersion compensation purposes. Two examples concerning reproduction of a specific dispersion curve and design of a wide bandwidth, constant low group velocity waveguide demonstrate the efficiency of the method.     

High sensitivity photonic crystal waveguide sensors

A theoretical investigation of the sensitivity of an optical liquid sensor, based on photonic crystal waveguide, is carried out. The sensing principle is based on the variation of the effective index of the waveguide induced by analyte refractive index change. The sensor modelling is carried out by using the 3D finite element method. The influence of geometrical parameters on the sensor sensitivity has been investigated. The results show that the sensitivity can be optimized by an appropriate choice of the geometrical parameters and a sensitivity superior to 20 has been achieved, near the cut-off in the slow light region, which is several times higher than that can be achieved with conventional waveguides.     

Ring microresonator as a photonic structure with complex eigenfrequency

For the analysis of light propagation in photonic guided-wave ring microresonators, leaky-mode solvers for bent channel waveguides are often used. In the analytical approach, the leaky mode field is expressed in terms of cylindrical functions of complex arguments and a complex order which plays a role of the (azimuthal) propagation constant. In this contribution we present a modified approach which takes into account the circular symmetry of the structure. We calculate the eigenmodes of a lossy microresonator as modes with complex eigenfrequencies. In this approach, the eigenmodes are described by cylindrical functions of an integer order and a complex argument. Similarities and differences of both approaches are demonstrated using simple examples of 2D (planar) structures.