Ultrafast opto-terahertz photonic crystal modulator

We present an agile optically controlled switch or modulator of terahertz (THz) radiation. The element is based on a one-dimensional photonic crystal with a GaAs wafer inserted in the middle as a defect layer. The THz electric field is enhanced in the photonic structure at the surfaces of the GaAs wafer. Excitation of the front GaAs surface by ultrashort 810 nm laser pulses then leads to an efficient modulation of the THz beam even at low photocarrier concentrations (approximately 10(16) cm(-3)). The response time of the element to pulsed photoexcitation is about 130 ps.     

Fast-response terahertz wave switch based on T-shaped photonic crystal waveguide

We design an ultra-fast terahertz wave switch based on T-shape photonic crystal waveguide. The polymer rod is added in the junction as a point defect, the refractive index of which can be varied by adjusting the external pump laser intensity. The transmission spectrum is calculated by finite-difference time-domain method, which shows that the output energy of the two output ports is closely related to the refractive index of the polymer rod. By continuous wave excitation of the guided mode, the simulation results show that the T-shaped photonic crystal waveguide can flexibly tune the power in two output ports. The tuning rate of the device is about 0.3 ns. These results provide a useful guide and a theoretical basis for the developments of terahertz wave functional components.     

Ultrafast tunable filter in two-dimensional organic photonic crystal

A tunable filter made from a two-dimensional polystyrene photonic crystal is fabricated by focused ion-beam etching. The pump and probe scheme is adopted to measure tunability based on the picosecond optical Kerr effect. The response time of the tunable filter, approximately 10 ps, is within the measurement resolution. The maximum shift of optical channels is estimated to be 6 nm under excitation of 15.9 GW/cm2 pump intensity, which is in agreement with the theoretical prediction.     

Polarization-independent terahertz wave modulator based on graphene-silicon hybrid structure

In this study, we propose and demonstrate a broadband polarization-independent terahertz modulator based on graphene/silicon hybrid structure through a combination of continuous wave optical illumination and electrical gating.Under a pump power of 400 mW and the voltages ranging from-1.8 V to 1.4 V, modulation depths in a range of-23%–62% are achieved in a frequency range from 0.25 THz to 0.65 THz. The modulator is also found to have a transition from unidirectional modulation to bidirectional modulation with the increase of pump power. Combining the Raman spectra and Schottky current–voltage characteristics of the device, it is found that the large amplitude modulation is ascribed to the electric-field controlled carrier concentration in silicon with assistance of the graphene electrode and Schottky junction.     

Ultrafast photonic crystal lasers

We describe recent progress in photonic crystal nanocavity lasers with an emphasis on our recent results on ultrafast pulse generation. These lasers produce pulses on the picosecond scale, corresponding to only hundreds of optical cycles. We describe laser dynamics in optically pumped single cavities and in coupled cavity arrays, at low and room temperature. Such ultrafast, efficient, and compact lasers show great promise for applications in high‐speed communications, information processing, and on‐chip optical interconnects.     

Continuous‐wave vertically emitting photonic crystal terahertz laser

Compact semiconductor light sources with high performance continuous‐wave (CW) and single mode operation are highly demanded for many applications in the terahertz (THz) frequency range. Distributed feedback (DFB) and photonic crystal (PhC) quantum cascade (QC) lasers are amongst the leading candidates in this field. Absorbing boundary condition is a commonly used method to control the optical performance of a laser in double‐metal confinement. However, this approach increases the total loss in the device and results in a large threshold current density, limiting the CW maximum output power and operating temperature. In this letter, a robust surface emitting continuous‐wave terahertz QC laser is realized in a two‐dimensional PhC structure by a second order Bragg grating extractor that simultaneously provides the boundary condition necessary for mode selection. This results in a 3.12 THz single mode CW operation with a 3 mW output power and a maximum operation temperature (T_max) of 100 K. Also, a highly collimated far‐field pattern is demonstrated, which is an important step towards real world applications.     

Ultrafast photonic crystal optical switching

Photonic crystal, a novel and artificial photonic material with periodic dielectric distribution, possesses photonic bandgap and can control the propagation states of photons. Photonic crystal has been considered to be a promising candidate for the future integrated photonic devices. The properties and the fabrication method of photonic crystal are expounded. The progresses of the study of ultrafast photonic crystal optical switching are discussed in detail.     

A compact electro-absorption modulator based on graphene photonic crystal fiber

A compact electro-absorption modulator based on graphene photonic crystal fiber is proposed. To enhance the graphene–light interaction efficiency, the innermost six air-holes of photonic crystal fiber are replaced by two large semicircular holes, and monolayer graphene is deposited on the two large semicircular holes. By optimizing the structure parameters, a strong graphene–light interaction is obtained. Moreover, the switch on–off point of the modulator is unchangeable,which is only related to the frequency of the incident light. The influence factors of this composite structure have been analyzed. The proposed modulator is compared with other graphene-based modulators, and the results show that it is filled without dielectric spacer. There are some excellent performances, such as an extinction ratio 7 dB of y-polarization mode,3-dB modulation bandwidth of 70 GHz with small footprint of 205 μm, and a consumption of energy per bit 59 pJ/bit.     

Terahertz wave switch based on photonic crystal ring resonators

In this paper, we have presented a compact and integrated terahertz wave switch design based on photonic crystal ring resonators. The photonic crystal structure with square lattice is investigated and applied for design of ring resonators. The switching mechanism of this novel switch is based on the variation of the resonant frequency of the ring resonator inserted between two parallel waveguides. The refractive index of the holes of the structure filled with polyaniline electrorheological fluids are varied by applied external electric field, the result of which is the variation of the ring resonant frequency. The proposed device is analyzed by using finite difference time domain method. Numerical simulation results show that this switch has high extinction ratio, small size, low voltage and advantages of selectivity of coupling THz wave to different output ports.     

Terahertz wave narrow bandpass filter based on photonic crystal

We designed a narrow bandpass terahertz wave filter using photonic crystals with a line defect. An inserted linear defect in one-dimensional photonic crystal structures for a channeled filtering in the terahertz range are studied and designed theoretically. By using transfer matrix method, we examined the transmittance spectra for the proposed terahertz wave filter has a 3 dB transmission loss bandwidth of 20 MHz ranging from 0.29998 THz to 0.30001 THz. The simulated results show that a very narrow transmission band and high transmission (higher than 99.99%) centered at λ₀, and very sharp edges can be achieved.     

Compact and high-power broadband terahertz source based on femtosecond photonic crystal fiber amplifier

We present a review of the development of a compact and high-power broadband terahertz (THz) source optically excited by a femtosecond photonic crystal fiber (PCF) amplifier.The large mode area of the PCF and the stretcher-free configuration make the pump source compact and very efficient.Broadband THz pulses of 150 μW extending from 0.1 to 3.5 THz are generated from a 3-mm-thick GaP crystal through optical rectification of 12-W pump pulses with duration of 66 fs and a repetition rate of 52 MHz.A strong saturation effect is observed,which is attributed to pump pulse absorption;a Z-scan measurement shows that three-photon absorption dominates the nonlinear absorption when the crystal is pumped by femtosecond pulses at 1 040 nm.A further scale-up of the THz source power is expected to find important applications in THz nonlinear optics and nonlinear THz spectroscopy.     

基于石墨烯的可调谐太赫兹光子晶体结构

本文将石墨烯引入到常规光子晶体中构建一种新型光子晶体, 首次从理论上严格导出了决定其能带结构的色散关系, 由于色散关系中石墨烯电导率的存在导致了它具有与常规光子晶体有所不同的特殊光学性质, 我们发现, 随着费米能增大, 低频段能带迅速向高频移动, 而高频段能带移动缓慢, 导致了常规光子晶体没有的能带压缩现象的发生, 究其原因在于石墨烯在低频段电导率迅速变化, 而高频段电导率变化缓慢, 导致能带向高频压缩, 使得光波原先允许频率变成禁止传播, 而禁止频率变成允许传播.     

THz波段的F-P光子晶体滤波器

理论上设计了一系列一维非周期光子晶体，这些光子晶体具有超窄带滤波的特性.并利用成熟的半导体工艺制备出了具有此性能的滤波器.通过比对理论和实验上的透射光谱，得到了两者符合较好的结果. 关键词： THz波段 F-P滤波器 非周期 光子带隙     

Thermo-optically tunable silicon photonic crystal light modulator

We designed, fabricated, and characterized a thermo-optically tunable compact (10 μm × 10 μm) silicon photonic crystal (PhC) light modulator that operates at around 1.55 μm for TE polarization. The operational principle of the device is the modulation of the cutoff frequency in a silicon-based line defect PhC. The cutoff frequency is shifted because of the thermo-optic tuning of the silicon refractive index, which is realized by localized heating on the PhC. The modulator is formed by a triangular lattice array of cylindrical air holes on a silicon-on-insulator wafer. Optical characterization was carried out, and the result clearly showed thermo-optic tuning of the cutoff frequency at around 1.55 μm.     

Improved Y-splitter photonic crystal waveguides in terahertz regime

Using the finite-difference time-domain method, the electromagnetic field distribution of terahertz waves in different photonic crystals Y-splitters were simulated. By continuous wave excitation of the guided mode, the simulation results show that those different Y-splitters can divide the power in an input wave guide equally between two output waveguides. By pulse excitation of a Gaussian envelope in time, the different Y-splitters have large different amplitude-frequency characteristics. The improved Y-splitter with a rod in the junction and without rods in the corners has widest −3-dB bandwidth 0.224 THz, and the amplitude reaches 0.616. The improved Y-splitter has better performance than other Y-splitters. These results provide a useful guide and a theoretical basis for the developments of terahertz functional components.     

A terahertz photonic crystal cavity with high Q-factors

A terahertz 1D photonic crystal cavity with very high Q-factor is demonstrated. The cavity consists of two parallel distributed Bragg mirrors and one air layer between them as defect layer. By increasing the length of the defect layer, the cavity has a very narrow transmission bandwidth of 30 MHz at resonant frequency of 336 GHz, i.e., a high Q over 1.1 × 10⁴ is achieved. Furthermore, an optically controllable THz switch is demonstrated by light irradiating on one of the middle silicon wafer in the cavity. And the power of optical beam needed for the switch is remarkably reduced to 0.16 W/cm², which is nearly 50 times smaller than that for a THz switch using a single silicon wafer.     

高效光子晶体太赫兹滤波器的设计

提出了一种新型光子晶体太赫兹(THz)滤波器,该滤波器包括利用线缺陷实现的波导部分和利用微腔实现的频率选择部分.应用平面波法(PWM)分析其带隙结构,然后应用时域有限差分法(FDTD),研究THz波在此滤波器中的传输特性,结果表明,通过改变点缺陷的结构和增大某些介质柱的半径,可以使该滤波器实现高耦合效率的单信道单频率滤波. 关键词： 光子晶体 THz波 平面波法 时域有限差分法     

Research on terahertz photonic crystal fiber characteristics with high birefringence

A new high birefringence photonic crystal fiber is proposed within the terahertz frequency region. It has two types of claddings, the inner is composed of six ellipse air holes arranged in a honeycomb array and the outer surrounded by circle holes. By using the full vector finite element method with anisotropic perfectly matched layers absorption boundary condition, the birefringence, chromatic dispersion and confinement loss of the fundamental mode are evaluated. The results show that the birefringence can achieve 10⁻³ when the wavelength increases from 600 μm to 900 μm. This structure will provide some reference value for the designing of high birefringence terahertz photonic crystal fiber.     

低损宽频高双折射太赫兹光子带隙光纤

设计了一种低损耗、宽频段、高双折射太赫兹光子带隙光纤,呈三角晶格排列的亚波长空气孔包层实现了带隙的局域作用.利用全矢量有限元法对光纤的双折射及损耗特性进行了理论分析.结果表明,在大约0.3 THz的宽频范围内,类矩形纤芯太赫兹光子带隙光纤的损耗小于0.009 cm^-1,相双折射在10^-3数量级,群双折射可达10^-2数量级. 关键词： 太赫兹 太赫兹波导 光子晶体光纤 双折射