Photonic crystal cavities and integrated optical devices

This paper gives a brief introduction to our recent works on photonic crystal (PhC) cavities and related integrated optical structures and devices. Theoretical background and numerical methods for simulation of PhC cavities are first presented. Based on the theoretical basis, two relevant quantities, the cavity mode volume and the quality factor are discussed. Then the methods of fabrication and characterization of silicon PhC slab cavities are introduced. Several types of PhC cavities are presented, such as the usual L3 missing-hole cavity, the new concept waveguide-like parallel-hetero cavity, and the low-index nanobeam cavity. The advantages and disadvantages of each type of cavity are discussed. This will help the readers to decide which type of PhC cavities to use in particular applications. Furthermore, several integrated optical devices based on PhC cavities, such as optical filters, channel-drop filters, optical switches, and optical logic gates are described in both the working principle and operation characteristics. These devices designed and realized in our group demonstrate the wide range of applications of PhC cavities and offer possible solutions to some integrated optical problems.     

Locking lasers with large FM noise to high-Q cavities

We demonstrate that a laser can be directly locked to a cavity when the laser linewidth is much greater than the cavity linewidth. We lock an external-cavity diode laser with more than 1 MHz of added frequency noise to a 3.5 kHz wide cavity resonance. Our analog servo acquires lock even though the laser frequency sweeps through the cavity resonance in less than the cavity buildup time. Our theoretical analysis fully describes our measurements and explains why lock can be acquired.     

Fabrication and packaging for high-Q CaF_2 crystalline resonators with modal modification

In this Letter, we demonstrate high-quality(Q), millimeter-size, and V-shaped calcium fluoride crystalline resonators for modal modification. To manufacture such resonators, we develop a home-made machining system and explore a detailed process. With a dedicated polished container, three special polishing steps, including grinding, smoothing, and polishing, are employed to achieve the required surface smoothness, which is characterized by less than 3 nm. An ultra-high-Q factor exceeding 108 is obtained by a coupled tapered fiber.In addition, a customized packaged structure for our disk resonator is achieved. The Q maintenance and stable spectrum are realized by sealing the coupling system in a hard disk. The simple, stable, portable, controlled, and integratable device would provide great potential in optical filters, sensors, nonlinear optics, cavity quantum electrodynamics, and especially some applications that require large resonators such as gyroscopes.     

Electromagnetic cavity with arbitrary Q and small modal volume without a complete photonic bandgap

We show how an electromagnetic cavity with arbitrarily high Q and small (bounded) modal volume can be formed in two or three dimensions with a proper choice of dielectric constants. Unlike in previous work, neither a complete photonic bandgap nor a trade-off in mode localization for Q is required. Rather, scattering and radiation are prohibited by a perfect mode match of the TE-polarized modes in each subsection of a Bragg resonator. Q values in excess of 10(5) are demonstrated through finite-difference time-domain simulations of two- and three-dimensional structures with modal areas or volumes of the order of the wavelength squared or cubed.     

Complete modal decomposition for optical waveguides

Virtually all electromagnetic waveguiding structures support a multiplicity of modes. Nevertheless, to date, an experimental method for unique decomposition of the fields in terms of the component eigenmodes has not been realized. The fundamental problem is that all current attempts of modal decomposition do not yield phase information. Here we introduce a noninterferometric approach to achieve modal decomposition of the fields at the output of a general waveguiding structure. The technique utilizes a mapping of the two-dimensional field distribution onto the one-dimensional space of waveguide eigenmodes, together with a phase-retrieval algorithm to extract the amplitudes and phases of all the guided vectorial modes. Experimental validation is provided by using this approach to examine the interactions of 16 modes in a hollow-core photonic-band gap fiber.     

Design theory of high-Q optical ring resonator with asymmetric three-layered dielectrics

An optical ring resonator with asymmetric three-layered dielectrics is shown to have an anomalously highQ-factor compared with the conventional symmetric three-layered ring resonator by several orders of magnitude for suitably chosen parameters. A new leaky mode which can propagate on the asymmetric structure is found having an extremely small attenuation loss near the cut-off frequency of the guided mode, but which does not exist in the symmetric structure. Optimum values of the normalized frequency for a single-mode operation to suppress the undesired leaky modes are discussed. It is also shown that the size of the ring resonator using the asymmetric structure can be reduced considerably from that of the ordinary symmetric resonator.     

A wide-band Whispering Gallery Mode dielectric resonator having multiple high-Q cavities for high-field ESR spectroscopy

The behaviour of a disc-shaped dielectric resonator made of sintered alumina and working in the Whispering Gallery Mode (WGM) has been studied in the frequency interval from about 8 up to about 26 GHz. Many equidistant resonances have been detected in this frequency interval each of which being characterized by a satisfactoryQ-value due to the very good self-confinement of the microwave field which is typical of WGM propagation. Particular care has been devoted to the optimization of the coupling between the resonating disc and the microwave source. Examples of ESR spectra obtained on each of the detected resonances are reported which show the variation of the lineshape with the increase of the frequency. The obtained results allow one to foresee that the same dielectric disc can be used for ESR spectroscopy also at frequencies much higher than those up to now exploited.     

含周期性空腔结构吸声机理的研究

为了研究水下含周期性空腔结构的吸声机理,建立并验证了含轴对称空腔周期性结构吸声特性计算的简化有限元仿真方法,用简化的有限元模型结合遗传算法对水下环境含周期性圆柱空腔结构的吸声性能进行了优化设计.从能量耗散、变形和模态的角度分析了含周期性空腔结构的吸声机理.空腔结构谐振包括表层的弯曲振动和空腔附近的径向变形,且径向运动也...     

Fourier modal methods for modeling optical dielectric waveguides

This work contains new materials relative to the use of Fourier expansion techniques, also called plane-wave expansion techniques, for modelling normal modes of optical waveguides. Two rigorous fully vectorial methods are presented and benchmarked for a classical rib waveguide geometry well studied in the literature. The first method relies on a pole extraction and on a one-dimensional expansion scheme. A four-digit accuracy for the normalized propagation constant B is obtained for the dominant TE and TM modes of the benchmark problem and for a small number of retained Fourier harmonics. Better accuracy is anticipated for larger truncation ranks. The second method relies on a two-dimensional expansion scheme in Fourier space and provides a three-digit accuracy for the normalized propagation constant.     

Thermally stable optical cavities for Zeeman laser gyroscopes

The problem of increasing the working time of a Zeeman laser gyroscope (LG) without any discontinuities in the output data is considered. It is proposed to solve it using materials with very small linear temperature expansion coefficients in the LG design and apply piezoelectric correctors with passive temperature compensation. Numerous experimental studies of the perimeter drift have been performed for different Zeeman LG samples. The linear temperature expansion coefficients of the material of LG single blocks have been carried out, and the piezoelectric corrector design has been improved.     

Field squeeze operators in optical cavities with atomic ensembles

We propose a method of generating unitarily single and two-mode field squeezing in an optical cavity with an atomic cloud. Through a suitable laser system, we are able to engineer a squeeze field operator decoupled from the atomic degrees of freedom, yielding a large squeeze parameter that is scaled up by the number of atoms, and realizing degenerate and nondegenerate parametric amplification. By means of the input-output theory we show that ideal squeezed states and perfect squeezing could be approached at the output. The scheme is robust to decoherence processes.     

Light propagation with ultralarge modal areas in optical fibers

We demonstrate robust single-transverse-mode light propagation in higher-order modes of a fiber, with effective area A(eff) ranging from 2,100 to 3,200 microm(2). These modes are accessed using long-period fiber gratings that enable higher-order-mode excitation over a bandwidth of 94 mm with greater than 99% of the light in the desired mode. The fiber is designed such that the effective index separation between modes is always large, hence minimizing in-fiber mode mixing and enabling light propagation over lengths as large as 12 m, with bends down to 4.5 cm radii. The modal stability increases with mode order, suggesting that A(eff) of this platform is substantially scalable.     

Multi-domain spectral method for modal analysis of optical waveguide

A multi-domain spectral method for scalar optical modal analysis is developed and presented. The method is mesh-free and is applicable to three-dimensional optical waveguide structures that are invariant in one direction. The mode profile is represented as a superposition of one-dimensional preselected basis functions with variable coefficients. As common to spectral methods, the presented method is inherently fast and efficient. Different optical waveguides are analyzed for comparison purpose to exhibit the validity and accuracy of the presented method.     

Pigtailing the high-Q microsphere cavity: a simple fiber coupler for optical whispering-gallery modes

We demonstrate a simple method for efficient coupling of standard single-mode optical fibers to a high- Q optical microsphere cavity. Phase-matched excitation of whispering-gallery modes is provided by an angle-polished fiber tip in which the core-guided wave undergoes total internal reflection. In the experimental setup, which included a microsphere with both an input and an output coupler, the total fiber-to-fiber transmission at resonance reached 23% (total insertion loss, 6.3 dB), with loaded quality factor Q>/=3x10(7) and unloaded Q approximately 1.2x10(8) at 1550 nm. A simple pigtailing method for microspheres permits their wider use in fiber optics and photonics devices.     

Engineering transverse Bragg resonance waveguides for large modal volume lasers

We recently analyzed a new class of laser amplifier based on transverse Bragg reflection. We show that the unique properties of Bragg confinement make it possible through modal loss discrimination to achieve single-transverse-mode operation with transverse modal size that is an order of magnitude larger than in lasers that depend on total internal reflection for transverse confinement.     

内嵌矩形腔楔形金属狭缝的增强透射

金属薄膜上亚波长金属狭缝的非共振光增强透射对宽频带光子器件的设计具有重要意义. 为增强金属狭缝的光透射, 设计了内嵌矩形腔楔形金属狭缝阵列, 并用有限元方法研究了该结构的透射特性. 结果表明, 内嵌矩形腔的楔形金属狭缝阵列比无矩形腔的楔形金属狭缝阵列透射率高. 此外, 还研究了矩形腔的结构参数和位置对内嵌矩形腔楔形金属狭缝阵列透射特性的影响. 这些结果将对设计具有更高透射能力的金属狭缝具有一定的指导意义. 关键词： 光异常透射 金属狭缝 表面等离极化激元     

Signal amplification and control in optical cavities with off-axis feedback

We consider a large class of optical cavities and gain media with an off-axis external feedback which introduces a two-point nonlocality. This nonlocality moves the lasing threshold and opens large windows of control parameters where weak light spots can be strongly amplified while the background radiation remains very low. Furthermore, transverse phase and group velocities of a signal can be independently tuned and this enables us to steer it nonmechanically, to control its spatial chirping, and to split it into two counterpropagating ones.