Photonic crystal tapers for ultracompact mode conversion

We have studied the coupling of a classic ridge waveguide with a two-dimensional photonic crystal (PC) waveguide, using finite-difference time-domain calculations. The ridge waveguide exhibits only a weak refractive-index confinement of light, as it is commonly used in buried-heterostructure or ridge-waveguide lasers. The light is coupled to a PC waveguide that consists of one missing row along the ?K direction in a triangular lattice of air cylinders in AlGaAs. We compare various designs for PC tapers with that of a classic taper and for butt coupling. The calculation yields high coupling efficiency that exceeds 80% for a 2.5-microm-long PC taper. In addition, the dependence of the efficiency on the PC air-fill factor and on alignment tolerances is analyzed.     

Coupling into the slow light mode in slab-type photonic crystal waveguides

Coupling external light signals into a photonic crystal (PhC) waveguide becomes increasingly inefficient as the group velocity of the waveguiding mode slows down. We have systematically studied the efficiency of coupling in the slow light regime for samples with different truncations of the photonic lattice at the coupling interface between a strip waveguide and a PhC waveguide. An inverse power law dependence is found to best fit the experimental scaling of the coupling loss on the group index. Coupling efficiency is significantly improved up to group indices of 100 for a truncation of the lattice that favors the appearance of photonic surface states at the coupling interface in resonance with the slow light mode.     

Efficient couplers for photonic crystal waveguides

We use two-dimensional simulations to study the design of tapers to provide efficient, low reflection coupling between a waveguide in a two-dimensional photonic crystal (PC) and free space. We find that, largely independent of the PC parameters, or of the length and width of the tapered region, the same type of concave, horn-shaped tapering profile is optimal for coupling from the waveguide into free space, and significantly out-performs the widely used linear taper. We also find that optimal tapers can radiate nearly Gaussian beams, and therefore they can also provide efficient coupling of Gaussian beams from free space into the PC waveguide. These properties are better exhibited by rod-type PCs with E_z polarization than by hole-type PCs with H_z polarization. This study of taper couplers exemplifies a design strategy for photonic circuits which optimizes positioning of the cylinders immediately surrounding the light path, and then builds the rest of the crystal structure around these cylinders.     

Integration of 2D photonic crystals with ridge waveguide lasers

2D triangular photonic crystals (PCs) have been integrated as laser mirrors in electrically pumped InGaAs/AlGaAs ridge waveguide lasers. The investigated PC lattice constants range from 160 to 400 nm with light incident along both main symmetry directions M and K. The observed cw laser performance is strongly dependent on both orientation and period of the PC. This behaviour is discussed using a 2D transfer matrix calculation of the PC reflectivity. As a demonstrator device relying on the 2D light confining properties of the PC, an active beamsplitter with a bending radius of 5 m is presented. Here, the PC is successfully used as cladding material in the S-bent regions of the ridge waveguide, significantly reducing the bending loss.     

Contra-directional coupling between two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguides

The contra-directional coupling between two photonic crystal (PC) waveguides is studied, using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. A design of contra-directional coupler is presented and its transmission properties are investigated. The device can be used as an add/drop filter. It is also shown that the coupled mode theory is suitable to study the photonic crystal waveguide coupler.     

The single-longitudinal-mode operation of a ridge waveguide laser based on two-dimensional photonic crystals

An electrically driven, single-longitudinal-mode GaAs based photonic crystal (PC) ridge waveguide (RWG) laser emitting at around 850 nm is demonstrated. The single-longitudinal-mode lasing characteristic is achieved by introducing the PC to the RWG laser. The triangle PC is etched on both sides of the ridge by photolithography and inductive coupled plasma (ICP) etching. The lasing spectra of the RWG lasers with and without the PC are studied, and the result shows that the PC purifies the longitudinal mode. The power per facet versus current and current-voltage characteristics have also been studied and compared.     

Adiabatic coupling between conventional dielectric waveguides and waveguides with discrete translational symmetry

We study adiabatic transformation in optical waveguides with discrete translational symmetry. We calculate the reflection and transmission coefficient for a structure consisting of a slab waveguide that is adiabatically transformed into a photonic crystal waveguide and then back into a slab waveguide. The calculation yields high transmission over a wide frequency range of the photonic crystal waveguide band and indicates efficient coupling between the slab waveguide and the photonic crystal waveguide. Other applications of adiabatic mode transformation in photonic crystal waveguides and the coupled-resonator optical waveguides are also discussed.     

Facet-embedded thin-film III-V edge-emitting lasers integrated with SU-8 waveguides on silicon

A thin-film InGaAs/GaAs edge-emitting single-quantum-well laser has been integrated with a tapered multimode SU-8 waveguide onto an Si substrate. The SU-8 waveguide is passively aligned to the laser using mask-based photolithography, mimicking electrical interconnection in Si complementary metal-oxide semiconductor, and overlaps one facet of the thin-film laser for coupling power from the laser to the waveguide. Injected threshold current densities of 260A/cm(2) are measured with the reduced reflectivity of the embedded laser facet while improving single mode coupling efficiency, which is theoretically simulated to be 77%.     

Beaming effect in multimode photonic crystal by using coupled waveguides

Beaming effect of a multimode photonic crystal (PC) covered by a waveguide array on the exit plane is investigated theoretically. The simulation results show that the multimode PC can make the incident light split into two beams, which can be regarded as secondary sources radiating light into the waveguide array. As a result, many light beams can be generated in the array by the coupling among the waveguides, and the interference of these light beams after passing the system leads to directional emission. Additionally, the directional emission is greatly affected by the beam distribution on the exit plane of the system. Once the main light beams are formed on the exit plane of the system by modulating the system size, steady beaming effect can be obtained in the horizontal direction.     

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.     

Laser diode integrated with a low radiation loss thickness-tapered beam expander for highly efficient fiber coupling

The optimal structure of a laser diode monolithically integrated with a thickness-tapered beam expander waveguide is demonstrated by analyzing the relationship between fiber coupling efficiencies and radiation losses. It is also found that mode conversion loss is lowered in a ridge waveguide structure than in a buried hetero structure under equivalent fiber coupling. A fabricated ridge waveguide device based on this design shows threshold current as low as 16 mA and narrow beam divergences of 13° and 12°.     

Coupling loss minimization of slow light slotted photonic crystal waveguides using mode matching with continuous group index perturbation

We experimentally demonstrate highly efficient coupling into a slow light slotted photonic crystal waveguide. With optical mode converters and group index tapers that provide good optical mode matching and impedance matching, a nearly flat transmission over the entire guided mode spectrum of 68.8 nm range with 2.4 dB minimum insertion loss is demonstrated. Measurements also show up to 20 dB baseline enhancement and 30 dB enhancement in the slow light region, indicating that it is possible to design highly efficient and compact devices that benefit from the slow light enhancement without increasing the coupling loss.     

Asymmetric light transport in L-shaped and U-shaped photonic crystal waveguides

We present an asymmetric light transport in a modified U-shaped photonic crystal waveguide (PCW). The compact waveguides consist of coupling two L-waveguides in a PC formed by dielectric rods in air arranged in a square lattice. We show that the transmitted power flow depends on the direction of the incident light, the transmission varies between a high and low value upon switching the position of the source beam from the input to the output of the PCW. Computations are performed using the plane wave expansion and finite-difference time-domain methods.     

Low threshold laser cavities of two-dimensional photonic crystal line defect mode

Two-dimensional (2D) rod-type photonic crystal (PC) line defect waveguide (LDW) laser cavities based on three types of line defect modes with zero group velocity are studied by using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. These laser cavities have high quality (Q) factor, better localization of light, non-uniform gain distribution and small overlap between gain medium and light field. Therefore, they have the advantages over conventional and air-bridge PC cavities with uniform gain, such as low threshold, single mode lasing and effectively avoiding thermal effect. From their comparison, one can find the mode at middle Brillouin zones (BZ) is the best one to be used as lasing mode. Its dynamic lasing process and lasing features are demonstrated by the numerical experiment where the FDTD method coupling Maxwell's equations with the rate equations of electronic population is used.     

二维光子晶体波导与单模平面介质波导间的喇叭波导接头

提出并优化了用于二维介质柱光子晶体波导与单模平面介质波导对接的基于分布布拉格反射波导的喇叭波导接头，提高了这两种波导之间的传输效率.二维时域有限差分仿真结果表明，在大部分光子晶体波导导模的频谱范围内，传输效率高于98％.传输效率最高可以达到99.85％. 关键词： 光子晶体波导 平面介质波导 时域有限差分     

Numerical characterization of nanopillar photonic crystal waveguides and directional couplers

We numerically characterize a novel type of a photonic crystal waveguide, which consists of several rows of periodically arranged dielectric cylinders. In such a nanopillar photonic crystal waveguide, light confinement is due to the total internal reflection. A nanopillar waveguide is a multimode waveguide, where the number of modes is equal to the number of rows building the waveguide. The strong coupling between individual waveguides leads to the proposal of an ultrashort directional coupler based on nanopillar waveguides. We present a systematic analysis of the dispersion and transmission efficiency of nanopillar photonic crystal waveguides and directional couplers. Plane wave expansion and finite difference time domain methods were used to characterize numerically nanopillar photonic crystal structures both in two- and three-dimensional spaces.     

Structure design and performance simulation on monolithic integrated chaotic-optical transmitter with photonic crystal waveguide in external cavity

A novel monolithic integrated chaotic-optical transmitter structure is proposed in this paper. It consists of a distributed feedback laser, a semiconductor optical amplifier, a passive waveguide, and a photonic crystal waveguide. The length of external cavity is shorten to 1.125 mm by the slow light effect in photonic crystal waveguide. The performance of the integrated chaotic-optical transmitter is simulated. A series of dynamic states transiting from steady state, period state, and finally to chaotic laser is obtained. The size and power consumption of the chaotic-optical transmitter are both reduced by introduction of photonic crystal waveguide.     

Optical properties of He+-implanted and diamond blade-diced terbium gallium garnet crystal planar and ridge waveguides

Terbium gallium garnet (Tb₃Ga₅O₁₂, TGG) crystal can be used to fabricate various magneto-optical devices due to its optimal Faraday effect. In this work, 400-keV He⁺ ions with a fluence of 6.0×10¹⁶ ions/cm² are irradiated into the TGG crystal for the planar waveguide formation. The precise diamond blade dicing with a rotation speed of 2×10⁴ rpm and a cutting velocity of 0.1 mm/s is performed on the He⁺-implanted TGG planar waveguide for the ridge structure. The dark-mode spectrum of the He⁺-implanted TGG planar waveguide is measured by the prism-coupling method, thereby obtaining the relationship between the reflected light intensity and the effective refractive index. The refractive index profile of the planar waveguide is reconstructed by the reflectivity calculation method. The near-field light intensity distribution of the planar waveguide and the ridge waveguide are recorded by the end-face coupling method. The He⁺-implanted and diamond blade-diced TGG crystal planar and ridge waveguides are promising candidates for integrated magneto-optical devices.     

Analysis of optical coupling between air-holes photonic crystal and tapered dielectric waveguides

Two types of structures for the optical coupling between photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) with triangular air-holes lattice and tapered dielectric waveguide (TDW) are investigated. The TDWs are coupled with PCW at the input and output connections of the PCW, which can constitute a unidirectional waveguide structure. The transmission efficiencies of the input and output coupling are analyzed theoretically for different coupling structures. It is found that the coupling efficiencies vary with the width and length of coupling region. When the light transmitted from TDW to PCW, the highest transmission efficiency is 92.6%, and it is 99.6% when the light transmitted from PCW to TDW. Then the total transmission efficiency of the entire waveguide is simulated and it can reach 92.3% for one type of structure and is a little lower for the other type of structure under the chosen optimal structure parameters. Considering the current processing accuracy, the structure mentioned above should be an effective coupling manner that can be easily realized.     

Efficient omnidirectional couplers achieved by anisotropic photonic crystal waveguides

Photonic crystals (PCs) have many potential applications because of their ability to control light-wave propagation. We have investigated omnidirectional couplers in two-dimensional anisotropic PC structures. The anisotropic PC coupler composed of an anisotropic-dielectric cylinder in air is studied by solving Maxwell's equations using the plane wave expansion method and finite-difference time-domain method. The photonic band structures are found to exhibit absolute bandgaps for the square lattices. Numerical simulations show that the incident light-waves at both transverse electric and transverse magnetic modes have efficient coupling in anisotropic PC coupler with square lattices. The guided modes and coupling length are analyzed by considering various line defect anisotropic PC waveguides and interaction regions of couplers. Such a mechanism of omnidirectional coupling should open up a new application for designing components in photonic integrated circuits.