Improved bends for two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguides

For two-dimensional photonic crystals involving infinitely long dielectric rods or air-holes on square or triangular lattices, a number of high performance 60° and 90° waveguide bends are obtained by solving optimization problems involving the radii of a few rods or air-holes as the degrees of freedom. In particular, the proposed 60° bends significantly outperform previous designs that insert three or five identical air-holes in the bend. The optimization problems are solved using a recently developed method based on the so-called Dirichlet-to-Neumann (DtN) maps of the unit cells.     

Ultracompact biochemical sensor built with two-dimensional photonic crystal microcavity

We report an experimental demonstration of an ultracompact biochemical sensor based on a two-dimensional photonic crystal microcavity. The microcavity, fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator substrate, is designed to have a resonant wavelength (lambda) near 1.5 microm. The transmission spectrum of the sensor is measured with different ambient refractive indices ranging from n = 1.0 to n = 1.5. From observation of the shift in resonant wavelength, a change in ambient refractive index of delta(n) = 0.002 is readily apparent. The correspondence between absolute refractive index and resonant wavelength agrees with numerical calculation to within 4% accuracy. The evaporation of water in a 5% glycerol mixture is also used to demonstrate the capability for in situ time-resolved sensing.     

Arbitrary angle waveguide bends in two-dimensional photonic crystals

Arbitrary angle waveguide bends in two-dimensional photonic crystals are studied with modeling and calculation. The lattice orientation restriction to bending angles can be avoided by incorporating an annular air groove into the bending corner. Theoretical analysis shows that the sharp bends transmit guided lightwaves with a very slight difference of propagation properties between straight waveguides and bend sections. A transmission of larger than 90% with a bandwidth of wider than 52 nm is obtained in the vicinity of 1.55 μm for the sharp bends with bending angles from 0° to 165°.     

Design and fabrication of rod-type two-dimensional photonic crystal slabs with large high-order bandgaps in near-infrared wavelengths

We proposed a novel two-dimensional photonic crystal slab comprised of a number of silicon rods with different radii and locations in the square-lattice unit cell pattern. Such rod-type photonic crystal slabs were automatically optimized by the genetic algorithm and fabricated on the silicon-on-insulator wafer. In particular, the measured transmission spectra of the five-rods sample have shown a large accepted high-order bandgap between 1498 and 1648 nm (gap size is 9.54%). Based on the theories of multiple Bragg and Mie scattering effects, we have given a reasonable explanation to the large high-order bandgaps found in the present study.     

Transmission of slow light through photonic crystal waveguide bends

The spectral dependence of the bending loss of cascaded 60 degrees bends in photonic crystal (PhC) waveguides is explored in a slab-type silicon-on-insulator system. An ultralow bending loss of (0.05 +/- 0.03) dB/bend is measured at wavelengths corresponding to the nearly dispersionless transmission regime. In contrast, the PhC bend is found to become completely opaque for wavelengths corresponding to the slow-light regime. A general strategy is presented and experimentally verified to optimize the bend design for improved slow-light transmission.     

慢光在光子晶体弯折波导中的高透射传播

研究了慢光模式在SOI(silicon-on-insulator)材料光子晶体线缺陷弯折波导中的传输特性. 通过优化波导弯折处的结构参数,慢光模式在光子晶体60°与120°弯折波导中的透射率提高10倍以上,归一化透射率分别达到80%和60%以上. 为了进一步减慢光速,设计了新颖的高Q值耦合腔弯折波导结构,在归一化透射率达到75%的基础上,光波群速度低至c/170(c为真空光速). 研究结果对于增强光子晶体的慢光效应,提高光子晶体慢光器件的微型化和集成化都有一定的积 关键词： 光子晶体 慢光 弯折波导 透射率     

Terahertz two-dimensional high-Q photonic crystal waveguide cavities

Numerical simulations were used to design a variety of high-Q resonant cavities for integration into a terahertz 2D photonic crystal waveguide. After fabrication, the transmission characteristics of each integrated cavity were explored. These photonic waveguide-coupled cavities demonstrate resonances with linewidths approaching 10 GHz. The results compare favorably to previous observations of rectangular waveguide cavities. Good agreement between the experimental results and the numerical simulations was obtained.     

Ultracompact high-efficiency polarizing beam splitter with a hybrid photonic crystal and conventional waveguide structure

We propose an ultracompact high-efficiency polarizing beam splitter that operates over a wide wavelength range and is based on a hybrid photonic crystal and a conventional waveguide structure. Within a small area (15 microm x 10 microm), this polarizing beam splitter separates TM- and TE-polarized modes into orthogonal output waveguides. Results of simulations with the two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method show that 99.3% of TM-polarized light is deflected by the photonic crystal structure (with a 28.0-dB extinction ratio), whereas 99.0% of TE-polarized light propagates through the structure (with a 32.2-dB extinction ratio). Wave vector diagrams are employed to explain the operation of a polarizing beam splitter. Tolerance analysis reveals a large tolerance to fabrication errors.     

Negative refraction at infrared wavelengths in a two-dimensional photonic crystal

We report on the first experimental evidence of negative refraction at telecommunication wavelengths by a two-dimensional photonic crystal field. Samples were fabricated by chemically assisted ion beam etching in the InP-based low-index constrast system. Experiments of beam imaging and light collection show light focusing by the photonic crystal field. Finite-difference time-domain simulations confirm that the observed focusing is due to negative refraction in the photonic crystal area.     

非截面二维光子晶体排列矩形波导的全模式分析

在对周期性结构进行谐波分析的基础上，导出了非截面二维光子晶体排列矩形波导的本征值方程. 基于此方程，可以对该类光子晶体波导的所有可能模式进行分析. 分析认为，非截面二维光子晶体排列矩形波导内能存在的模式包括E_(y)，TE_y，H_(y)和TM_y模式；改变波导高度，可以实现E_(y)模式和H_(y)模式与其他模式通带的完全分离. 然而改变任一结构参数，都不能使E_(y)和H_(y)的各个模式通带，以及E_(y)1模式和H_(y)1模式的通带完全隔离. 波导单模工作的带宽由E_(y)1和E_(y)2模式的低端截止频率决定. 关键词： 波导 光子晶体 本征值方程 模式     

Enhancement of light extraction efficiency in OLED with two-dimensional photonic crystal slabs

Light extraction efficiency of organic light emitting diode (OLED) based on various photonic crystal slab (PCS) structures was studied. By using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, we investigated the effect of several parameters, including filling factor and lattice constant, on the enhancement of light extraction efficiency of three basic PCSs, and got the most effective one. Two novel designs of "interlaced"and "double-interlaced" PCS structures based on the most effective basic PCS structure were introduced,and the "interlaced" one was proved to be even more efficient than its prototype. Large enhancement of light extraction efficiency resulted from the coupling to leaky modes in the expended light cone of a band structure, the diffraction in the space between columns, as well as the strong scattering at indium-tinoxide/glass interfaces.     

Propagation loss in a two-dimensional triangular photonic crystal waveguide

By means of a plane-wave-based transfer-matrix method, we present an extensive study of propagation loss in two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal waveguides with limited cladding wall thickness. We examine the dependence of propagation loss on both the propagation direction and the waveguide wall thickness. It is shown that the propagation loss is a function of excitation frequency, wall thickness and waveguide outermost surface morphology. The conclusion that the propagation loss essentially decays exponentially with respect to the cladding wall thickness of a waveguide is valid only to a certain degree. In addition, we find that the propagation loss exhibit very complex behavior with respect to the excitation frequency.     

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.     

Ultracompact refractive index sensor based on microcavity in the sandwiched photonic crystal waveguide structure

A refractive index (RI) sensor based on the two-dimensional photonic crystal is presented. The sensor is formed by a point-defect resonant cavity in the sandwiched waveguide structure. The transmission spectrums of the sensor with different ambient refractive indices ranging from n = 1.0 to n = 1.6 are calculated. The calculation results show that a change in ambient RI of Δn = 0.001 is apparent, the sensitivity of the sensor (Δλ/Δn) is achieved with 330 nm/RIU (when lattice constant a = 440 nm), where RIU means the refractive index unit; and the transmission efficiency in the RI range of 1.0-1.6 can reach about 40% to 70%, that make the detection of spectrum easy and feasible. The properties of the sensor are analyzed and calculated using the plane-wave expansion (PWE) method and simulated using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method.     

光子晶体平面波导与脊波导高效耦合技术的研究

利用一维变周期谐振腔阵列和非线性缓变边界，可以实现光波从脊波导到光子晶体平面波导 （PCW）的高效耦合.基于平面波展开法（PWE）和时域有限差分法（FDTD），深入分析和讨 论了普通脊波导、2D-PCW结构和本征模以及工作模式、缓变边界形状等对耦合效率的影响， 从而得出光波从脊波导到2D-PCW、再返回脊波导的统一图景.指出考虑模式转换和采用缓变 边界条件可以极大提高PCW与脊波导间的耦合效率.对PC-PW边界采用线性和非线性缓变结构 进行了仿真，讨论了边界缓变程度对耦合效率的影响.结果表明，采用模式耦合和PC-PW余弦 缓变边界时的耦合效率在较宽的带宽内超过了95%. 关键词： 光子晶体波导 脊波导 PWE FDTD 耦合边界     

Influence of disorder and deformation on the optical properties of two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguide

We investigate the effect of disorder and mechanical deformation on two- dimensional photonic crystal waveguide. The dispersion characteristics and transmittance of the waveguide are studied by using the finite element method. Results show that the geometric change of the dielectric material perpendicular to the light propagation direction has a larger influence on the waveguide characteristics than that parallel to the light propagation direction. Mechanical deformation has an obvious influence on the performance of the waveguide. In particular, longitudinal deformed structure exhibits distinct optical characteristics from the ideal one. Studies on this work will provide useful guideline to the fabrications and practical applications based on photonic crystal waveguides.     

Fine structural adjustment of lasing wavelengths in photonic crystal waveguide laser arrays

We propose new and simple designs that allow one to adjust the relative frequency of photonic crystal waveguide lasers included in a laser array. Using numerical simulations, we demonstrate that wavelength shifts smaller than 2 nm can be achieved while remaining compatible with common lithographic precision. Specific details of the implemented methods allow to deal with relative shifts as small as ≈2×10⁻⁴.     

Study of transmission properties for waveguide bends by use of a circular photonic crystal

We study the transmission properties for the waveguide bends composed by a circular photonic crystal. Two types (Y and U type) of the waveguide bends utilizing the circular photonic crystal are studied. It has been shown, compared with the conventional photonic crystal waveguide bends, transmission properties for these bends can be significantly improved. Over a 6.4% bandwidth, less than 1-dB loss/bend are observed. U bent waveguide, i.e., 180° bend, can be easily realized with low loss using the circular photonic crystal.     

Miniband transmission in a photonic crystal coupled-resonator optical waveguide

We demonstrate in the near infrared the coupled-resonator optical waveguide (CROW) concept that was recently proposed by Yariv et al. [Opt. Lett.24, 711 (1999)]. Two-dimensional photonic crystals have been used to define, in a GaAs-based waveguiding heterostructure, an array of micrometer-sized hexagonal cavities coupled through thin walls. With the photoexcitation of InAs quantum dots as an internal source, the transmission spectra of the coupled resonators show marked minibands and minigaps, in agreement with theoretical predictions.     

Ultracompact 160 Gbaud all-optical demultiplexing exploiting slow light in an engineered silicon photonic crystal waveguide

We demonstrate all-optical demultiplexing of a high-bandwidth, time-division multiplexed 160 Gbit/s signal to 10 Gbit/s channels, exploiting slow light enhanced four-wave mixing in a dispersion engineered, 96 μm long planar photonic crystal waveguide. We report error-free (bit error rate<10??) operation of all 16 demultiplexed channels, with a power penalty of 2.2-2.4 dB, highlighting the potential of these structures as a platform for ultracompact all-optical nonlinear processes.