Amplification and photonic band gaps for eigenmodes in two-dimensional photonic crystals with active media

The behavior of eigenmodes near the first low-frequency band gap of a two-dimensional squarearray photonic crystal in the presence of amplification has been studied in detail using an approximate analytic solution for the mode dispersion characteristics. A qualitative analysis of the complex propagation constants was conducted for various directions in the crystal, and the frequency regions corresponding to amplification and absence of transmission due to interference-induced wave damping were identified. The enhancement of amplification in a two-dimensional photonic crystal was estimated.     

Hexagonally poled lithium niobate: A two-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystal

We report on the fabrication of what we believe is the first example of a two-dimensional (2D) nonlinear photonic crystal [Berger, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 4136 (1998)], where the refractive index is constant but where the 2nd order nonlinear susceptibility is spatially periodic. Such crystals allow for efficient quasi-phase-matched 2nd harmonic generation using multiple reciprocal lattice vectors. External 2nd harmonic conversion efficiencies >60% were measured with picosecond pulses. The fabrication technique is extremely versatile and should allow for the fabrication of a broad range of 2D crystals including quasicrystals.     

2维光子晶体中的掺杂效应数值研究

把平面波展开方法(PWM)用于2维光子晶体掺杂情况下透射特性的研究,计算得到了粗细不同的空气柱掺杂、相同半径不同介质柱掺杂、不同柱体形状掺杂情况下2维光子晶体的透射系数与入射光频率的关系曲线。结果表明2维光子晶体的禁带的宽度、位置、透过率与掺杂体半径、掺杂体介电常数、掺杂体柱体几何形状等因素有关,掺杂因素相差越大透射曲线变化越明显,特别是损耗介质的掺入更使得禁带可调要素增加。     

2维光子晶体中的掺杂效应数值研究

 把平面波展开方法(PWM)用于2维光子晶体掺杂情况下透射特性的研究,计算得到了粗细不同的空气柱掺杂、相同半径不同介质柱掺杂、不同柱体形状掺杂情况下2维光子晶体的透射系数与入射光频率的关系曲线。结果表明2维光子晶体的禁带的宽度、位置、透过率与掺杂体半径、掺杂体介电常数、掺杂体柱体几何形状等因素有关,掺杂因素相差越大透射曲线变化越明显,特别是损耗介质的掺入更使得禁带可调要素增加。     

a-Si:H based two-dimensional photonic crystals

We describe the fabrication processes of silicon-based two-dimensional photonic crystals (2D-PCs) with a photonic band gap in the near-IR range. The procedures involve electron beam lithography followed by an anisotropic etching step of hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Micrometric and submicrometric arrays of cylindrical holes are transferred using a poly-methylmethacrylate resist layer as a mask. A careful comparison between standard parallel plate reactive ion etching and inductively coupled plasma etching techniques is performed, aimed at obtaining periodic structures with high aspect ratio and good profile sharpness.     

Inhomogeneous two-dimensional structures in liquid crystals

Localized axisymmetric inhomogeneous states with a continuous distribution of the director field can exist in nematics. Such structures are compressed into dense filaments under the influence of a magnetic or electric field. It is hypothesized that the given states can be achieved in filamentary nematic textures. This model is an alternative to the conventional disclination model. Two types of lattices of axial structures can exist in the entire range of existence of the modulated state. Axial structures with a kernel of finite radius can exist in cylindrical capillaries. The structure and equilibrium dimensions of the axial states are easily altered over a wide range under the influence of an applied field. The feasibility of utilizing isolated axial structures and lattices of such structures in optical data processing and imaging devices is discussed. The most promising outlook in this regard is for modulated states and axial structures in chiral liquid crystals exhibiting spontaneous polarization. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 113, 1675–1697 (May 1998)     

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.     

Engineering two-dimensional nonlinear photonic quasi-crystals

A known algorithm for modeling quasi-periodic lattices is used to generate two-dimensional quadratic nonlinear photonic quasi-crystals containing a set of desired discrete spectral components. This allows us to fabricate optical devices in which an arbitrary set of nonlinear optical processes can be efficient. We demonstrate this capability by fabricating two devices: a multidirectional single-frequency doubler and a multidirectional, multifrequency doubler that is capable of nearly collinear doubling of cw radiation in the optical communication C band (1530-1570 nm) through angle tuning.     

Larger complete photonic bandgaps in two-dimensional photonic crystal heterostructure

A two-dimensional photonic crystal heterostructure with a large complete photonic bandgap is presented. It consists of two photonic crystals, whose dielectric configurations are reverse, with triangular lattice of circular columns. The structure retains the ease of fabrication while increasing the maximum quality factor of the gap 2–3 times after optimization. Photonic bandgap properties are calculated using a plane-wave method and the transmission spectra are obtained.     

The two-dimensional superconducting photonic crystal

The band structure of a two-dimensional superconducting photonic crystal is studied. The temperature dependence of the photonic band structure in a wide temperature region below the superconducting transition is analyzed. It is found that the photonic crystal has two full band gaps and two incomplete band gaps, which are shifted to the high frequency region with decreasing temperature.     

A bridged waveguide intersection in two-dimensional photonic crystal structures

In this work we introduce a symmetric waveguide intersection in photonic crystal structures, which passes the optical power entering from each one of its four ports, directly to the forward port. This junction allows designers to easier and more efficient design of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and to create bridge-junctions in a 13.3 μm² area with just one linear material in its construction. The minimum pass to stop contrast ratio is 26 db with an 18.1 nm bandwidth for contrast ratio over 15 db. Conformal finite difference time domain (CFDTD) method has been used to analysis the system and numerically demonstrates its working.     

Numerical study on characteristic of two-dimensional metal/dielectric photonic crystals

An improved plan-wave expansion method is adopted to theoretically study the photonic band diagrams of twodimensional(2D) metal/dielectric photonic crystals.Based on the photonic band structures,the dependence of flat bands and photonic bandgaps on two parameters(dielectric constant and filling factor) are investigated for two types of 2D metal/dielectric(M/D) photonic crystals,hole and cylinder photonic crystals.The simulation results show that band structures are affected greatly by these two parameters.Flat bands and bandgaps can be easily obtained by tuning these parameters and the bandgap width may reach to the maximum at certain parameters.It is worth noting that the hole-type photonic crystals show more bandgaps than the corresponding cylinder ones,and the frequency ranges of bandgaps also depend strongly on these parameters.Besides,the photonic crystals containing metallic medium can obtain more modulation of photonic bands,band gaps,and large effective refractive index,etc.than the dielectric/dielectric ones.According to the numerical results,the needs of optical devices for flat bands and bandgaps can be met by selecting the suitable geometry and material parameters.     

Polaritonic and photonic gap interactions in a two-dimensional photonic crystal

If an ionic material is used in a photonic crystal, the lattice resonance creates a polaritonic gap in the infrared range. The interaction between a polaritonic gap and the structure gap in a 2D square photonic crystal is studied by transfer matrix photonic band structure calculations. The polaritonic gap appears for a surprisingly low volume density of the ionic material. The TM gaps are larger than the TE gaps, as in the dielectric case. By varying the lattice constant, the structure gaps can be shifted across the polaritonic gap, and the effects of merging the two gaps can be studied.     

Magneto-optical defects in two-dimensional photonic crystals

We analyze the properties of magneto-optical defect states in two-dimensional photonic crystals. With out-of-plane magnetization, the magneto-optical coupling splits doubly-degenerate TE states into two counter-rotating modes at different frequencies. The strength of magneto-optical coupling strongly depends on the spatial overlap of the cavity domain structures and the cross product of the modal fields. The transport property of the resultant nonreciprocal states is demonstrated in a junction circulator structure with a magneto-optical cavity coupled to three waveguides. By a proper matching of the magneto-optical frequency splitting with the cavity decay rate into the waveguide, ideal three-port circulator characteristics with complete isolation and transmission can be achieved, with an operational bandwidth proportional to the magneto-optical constant. The proposed optical circulator in a bismuth-iron-garnet/air photonic crystal is demonstrated with finite-difference time-domain calculations and is compared to an alternative implementation of silicon/air crystal infiltrated with a single bismuth-iron-garnet domain.     

Reduced-symmetry two-dimensional solitons in photonic lattices

We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally a novel type of localized beam supported by the combined effects of total internal and Bragg reflection in nonlinear two-dimensional square periodic structures. Such localized states exhibit strong anisotropy in their mobility properties, being highly mobile in one direction and trapped in the other, making them promising candidates for optical routing in nonlinear lattices.     

Switchable nonlinear two-dimensional ferroelectric photonic crystal

A two-dimensional photonic crystal with a system of electrodes providing interaction of the incident and transmitted light waves has been developed on the basis of an epitaxial ferroelectric BaSrTiO₃ film. Investigation of the spectral characteristics has revealed the presence of a photonic band gap near 1.5 eV. A possibility of spatial frequency reconstruction of the second-harmonic wave generated by the photonic crystal is shown. The switching efficiency is as high as 6000%.     

Negative refraction in two-dimensional photonic crystals

We present some of our recent results for negative refraction in photonic crystals. The concept of negative refraction in photonic crystals is firstly introduced. Then, the propagation of electromagnetic waves in photonic crystals is systematically studied. By the layer Korringa–Kohn–Rostoker method, the coupling efficiency between external plane waves and the Bloch waves in photonic crystals is investigated. It is found that the coupling coefficient is highly angular dependent even for an interface between air with n=1 and a photonic crystal with effective index n_eff=-1. It is also shown that, for point imaging by a photonic crystal slab, owing to the negative refraction, the influence of the surface termination on the transmission and the imaging quality is significant. Finally, we present results experimentally demonstrating negative refraction in a two-dimensional photonic crystal at optical communication wavelengths. PACS 42.70.Qs; 41.85.Ct; 42.30.Va     

Wave-vector diagrams for two-dimensional photonic crystals

Photonic crystals exhibit band gaps, meaning that electromagnetic fields cannot propagate in them for specific ranges of wavelengths and directions. The calculation of band structure diagrams has been intensively studied and is now well understood. In contrast to that, so-called wave-vector diagrams (i.e. dispersion surfaces, depicting the loci of all relevant wave vectors at a fixed wavelength) are less known and used. In principle, they show how the effective index of the structure depends on the direction of propagation. A method to calculate explicitly wave-vector diagrams for two-dimensional photonic crystals is derived which leads finally to quadratic eigenvalue problems. Results for square and triangular lattices are presented and some applications are discussed.     

Wave-vector diagrams for two-dimensional photonic crystals

Photonic crystals exhibit band gaps, meaning that electromagnetic fields cannot propagate in them for specific ranges of wavelengths and directions. The calculation of band structure diagrams has been intensively studied and is now well understood. In contrast to that, so-called wave-vector diagrams (i.e. dispersion surfaces, depicting the loci of all relevant wave vectors at a fixed wavelength) are less known and used. In principle, they show how the effective index of the structure depends on the direction of propagation. A method to calculate explicitly wave-vector diagrams for two-dimensional photonic crystals is derived which leads finally to quadratic eigenvalue problems. Results for square and triangular lattices are presented and some applications are discussed.     

Diffraction inhibition in two-dimensional photonic crystals

We show the existence of flat equal-frequency contour across the entire first Brillouin zone in two-dimensional photonic crystals. Under this condition, light diffraction can be inhibited. Moreover, the beam can be highly localized between two neighboring rows of the defect-free photonic crystal. Such a finding may have novel applications in light beam manipulations and on-chip integrated photonic devices.