Open cavity formed by a photonic crystal with negative effective index of refraction

An open cavity formed by three 60 degrees wedges of a photonic crystal with negative effective index is designed and studied. The quality factor of the open cavity can be larger than 2000. The influence of the interface termination on the resonant frequency and the quality factor is studied.     

Enhance the resolution of photonic crystal negative refraction imaging by metal grating

The resolution of imaging is limited by the missing of high-frequencies information. The superlens employing negative refraction can compensate for these components. But for the directional coupling of Bloch waves and the low coupling efficiency of large-angle waves, the resolution of subwavelength imaging is not satisfactory. However, the subwavelength metallic grating can produce high-order diffracted waves carrying a lot of high-frequencies information. Therefore, this structure is used to inhibit the zero-order diffraction and enhance the high-order diffraction to achieve super-resolution.     

Discrete negative refraction in photonic crystal waveguide arrays

We report a systematic analysis of anomalous refractive effects at interfaces between two photonic crystal waveguide arrays. Discrete negative refraction can be easily predicted from the sign of the coupling coefficient between adjacent waveguides, regardless of handedness of propagation.     

Optimized focusing properties of photonic crystal slabs

We propose an optimization procedure for focusing operation in finite two dimensional photonic crystal slabs. The device consists of a triangular lattice air holes etched in a semiconductor matrix at a nanometer scale to operate at 1.55 μm. To reach simultaneously an effective refractive index equal to −1 along with a very high transmission coefficient whatever optical wave incidence, the parameters as the lattice period and/or filling factor are precisely adjusted depending on the slab thickness. The method relies on Fabry-Perot resonances engineering in the air/crystal/air cavity constituting the lens.     

Imaging properties and negative refraction of the metallic photonic crystal at near-infrared frequency

Imaging properties and negative refraction of the two-dimensional metallic photonic crystal (PC) consisting of a triangular lattice of silver rods immersed in a dielectric is studied. It is found that good-quality image spots and negative refraction with an effective refractive index of ?1 can be achieved for the near-infrared frequency through the adjustment of the metallic PC's lattice constant and the permittivity of the background material together. Drude dispersion model is adopted to describe the silver rod and it is found that the influence of the metal's absorption is trivial to debase the quality of the image spot.     

Nano-optic label-free biosensors based on photonic crystal platform with negative refraction

In this paper, a novel biosensor based on hetero photonic crystal (PC) structures is proposed. The biosensor consists of photonic crystals with negative refraction (PCNR) embedded between two ordinary PC structures. The PCNR is employed in order to produce an image that is as similar as the light source, which is located in the first ordinary PC. Significant enhancement of the image is achieved when a nanocavity is introduced into the PCNR. It is found that the transmission peak shifts when the nanocavity is filled with blood plasma, liquid and dry air. It is shown that by careful selection of the radius of the nanocavity, the sensitivity of the proposed biosensor can be enhanced. The presented PCNR biosensor is investigated by employing the finite-difference time-domain method (FDTD).     

Three-dimensional photonic crystal of negative refraction achieved by interference lithography

A three-dimensional bicontinuous photonic crystal of a bcc lattice with all-angle negative refraction that can be achieved at optical frequencies by interference lithography is proposed. A numerical simulation of the focusing imaging of a slab of this crystal was performed to verify the property of all-angle negative refraction. The dependence of the negative-refraction frequency range on the threshold of photoresist development and on the dielectric constant is also discussed.     

Tunable negative refraction by electro-optical control in two-dimensional photonic crystal

This paper describes a simple hydrothermal procedure for high-yield synthesis of single-crystalline ZnO hexagonal nanoplates in a surfactant-free system at 70 °C. The structures and morphologies of the synthesized ZnO nanoplates are derived from characterisation by X-ray diffraction, and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Their optical properties are recorded by Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy. These ZnO hexagonal nanoplates exhibit the enhanced photocatalytic activity of phenol photodecomposition, suggesting that they could be served as an active system for the treatment of the waste water, in addition to their common applications. PACS 81.10.Dn; 61.10.Nz; 68.37.Hk; 78.55.Hx     

Study on optical switching effect of photonic crystals with negative effective index of refraction

Based on transmission spectra, optical switching effect of equivalent negative refractive photonic crystals (PCs) composed of a triangular array of air cylinders in a GaAs matrix is studied by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method in this paper. The mechanism of wave resonance is probed and the propagation of optical waves in the PCs is described in terms of effective refraction index and Bloch waves. Our numerical results show that the probability of spontaneous radiation would be enhanced extremely under the influence of Bloch resonance waves, stimulated emission and photon tunnel effect, resulting in the optical waves being localized greatly in the PCs at particular frequencies. In addition, we found that the position of transmission peaks, with values much greater than unit, can be controlled by tuning the central frequency of the waveguide source. It means that photon current in the PCs can also be controlled to optimize transmission properties of PCs, so as to meet the requirements of novel optical devices based on PCs, such as all-optical switches.     

Design of annular photonic crystal slabs

We present the design of realistic annular photonic-crystal (APC) structures of finite thickness aiming to obtain a complete photonic bandgap (PBG). The APC is composed of dielectric rods and circular air holes in a triangular lattice such that each rod is centered within each hole. The optical and geometrical values of the structure are studied, and the interplay between various design parameters is highlighted. The coupled role of the inner-dielectric-rod radius, material types, and slab thickness is investigated. It is shown that the slab thickness is vital to obtain a complete photonic bandgap below the light line, and the specific value of the inner-dielectric-rod radius to sustain the maximum PBG if the hole radius is fixed at proper value is found.     

Design of a novel sensor based on tapered photonic crystal with negative refraction structures

We report a novel design of an ultracompact sensor consisting of two-dimension photonic crystal with negative refraction coupled to a taper ended by multicavity structure. It is shown that this system exhibits promising properties in the area of sensing. The presence of nanocavities enables the detection of small amount of analytes. By controlling their radii, a large quality factor, Q is reached. It is demonstrated that the quality factor is a key parameter in determining the sensitivity to the analytes.     

Polarization beam splitters based on a two-dimensional photonic crystal of negative refraction

A two-dimensional metallo-dielectric photonic crystal of negative refraction was designed for the application of polarization beam splitters. To match the refractive index of air, the effective refractive index of the designed photonic crystal is -1 for TE polarization and +1 for TM polarization. Two types of polarization beam splitter are presented.     

Negative refraction and imaging properties of circular photonic crystals

The electromagnetic wave propagation in a two-dimensional (2D) circular photonic crystal (CPC) is investigated. The CPC structure is composed of air holes in the dielectric background material. The finite element method is used to study the optical and propagating properties of the CPC slab. Numerical simulations show that negative refraction and near-field imaging can appear in a 2D CPC slab. We also find that the high-symmetry CPC slab possesses an optics axis along the vertical direction intersecting the symmetric center. As a result, the CPC slab can exhibit an excellent imaging performance when a source is placed on the optical axis.     

Efficient tunable negative refraction photonic crystal achieved by an elliptic rod lattice with a nematic liquid crystal

Photonic crystals (PCs) have many potential applications because of their ability to control light-wave propagation. We have investigated the electromagnetic wave propagation inside an elliptic rod PC slab by means of finite-difference time-domain simulations. The band structure of the PC composed of elliptic rod in the square and triangular lattices is studied by solving Maxwell's equations using the plane wave expansion method. Numerical simulations show that the refractive angle can be tuned greatly by rotating the directors of elliptic rod in the PC slab. Furthermore, an optical switch based on elliptic rod PC structures with nematic liquid crystals was proposed. In the on/off switching system, the partial band gap can be controlled when the normalized operation frequency is 0.28. The modulation induced by liquid crystals created a sharp switching in the photonic devices. Such a mechanism of negative refraction PCs should open up a new application for designing components in photonic integrated circuits.     

Cavity modes in one-dimensional photonic crystal slabs

A theoretical study of cavity modes in one-dimensional photonic crystal slabs embedded in Silicon-on-Insulator structures is reported. Three different methods are employed, namely a guided-mode expansion in which the coupling to radiative modes is treated by perturbation theory, a grating or scattering-matrix method for calculating the surface reflectance, and a Fourier modal expansion for in-plane transmission calculations. It is shown that all methods lead to the same values for the quality factors of cavity modes for both first- and second-order Bragg mirrors. We conclude that the quality factor of a cavity mode can be determined with optical reflectance from the surface of the slab.     

Realization of absolute negative refraction index by a photonic crystal using anisotropic dielectric material

A method to realize absolute negative refraction index -1 with a two-dimensional （2D） photonic crystal is presented by introducing dielectric anisotropy in the photonic crystal material. The band structures of E-polarization mode and H-polarization mode can be adjusted by changing the parameters of materials. Thus the two modes with different polarizations have the same negative refraction index -1 for the same frequency. The results are demonstrated by numerical simulation based on the finite-difference time-domain （FDTD） method.     

Band structures in nonlinear photonic crystal slabs

The finite-difference time-domain method was used to analyze band structures in two-dimensional Kerr-nonlinear photonic crystal slabs. A triangular lattice of circular air rods was considered. Results show red-shifting of the band structure due to the nonlinearity and the incident intensity. The red-shift of the band gap between the first and the second bands is maximal when the air rod radius is in the range 0.2a to 0.25a, where a is the period.     

Negative refraction in a honeycomb-lattice photonic crystal

In this paper we theoretically investigate a photonic crystal with dielectric rods in a honeycomb lattice. Two left-handed frequency regions are found in the second and third photonic band by using the plane wave expansion method to analyze the photonic band structure and equifrequency contours. Subwavelength imaging by the photonic crystal flat lens are systematically studied by numerical simulations using the multiple scattering method. Different from the photonic crystals with noncircular dielectric rods in air, this structure is almost isotropic at the optimal frequency for superlensing. As a comparison, flat slab focusing is also demonstrated at other frequencies in the two left-handed regions.     

Amphoteric-like refraction in a two-dimensional photonic crystal

High-index contrast photonic crystals possess an intricate photonic band structure that is responsible for surprising phenomena as the surperprism effect, self-collimation, power splitting or negative refraction. Recently, it was reported that at the interface between an isotropic medium and a uniaxial crystal (or between two uniaxial crystals) a phenomenon known as amphoteric refraction, that is, positive as well as negative refraction, can take place. By means of a equifrequency contours analysis and finite-difference time-domain simulations, we show that a two dimensional photonic crystal can also present amphoteric refraction by properly choosing the lattice orientation and the termination. However, total transmission is difficult to achieve because a Bloch mode is excited inside the photonic crystal and the coupling efficiency from this mode to an external plane wave is lower than one.     

Correlation effects in disordered metallic photonic crystal slabs

We analyze the influence of correlations on the optical properties of disordered metallic photonic crystal slabs experimentally and theoretically. Different disorder models with different nearest-neighbor correlations are considered. We present a theory that allows us to quantitatively calculate the optical properties of the different samples. We find that different kinds of correlations produce characteristic spectral features such as peak reduction and inhomogeneous broadening. These features are caused by reduced excitation efficiencies and the excitation of multiple resonances.