Inhibited emission in photonic woodpile lattices

The emission and transmission properties of realistic photonic-band-structure woodpile lattices are investigated by use of a scattering-matrix treatment. Lattices with three to nine layers are studied, and the results are interpreted with band-structure calculations for an infinite lattice. Calculations of the total radiative loss rate for a source within the lattice show that these structures can provide significant inhibition of emission, with values as low as 3% of the free-space value in the nine-layer structure.     

Three-dimensional woodpile photonic crystal templates for the infrared spectral range

High-quality templates of three-dimensional woodpile photonic crystals are fabricated in photoresist SU-8 by use of femtosecond laser lithography. The samples have smooth surfaces, are mechanically stable, and are resistant to degradation under environmental and chemical influences. Fundamental and higher-order photonic stopgaps are identified in the wavelength range 2.0-8.0 microm. These templates can be used for subsequent infiltration by optically active or high-refractive-index materials.     

Local observation of modes from three-dimensional woodpile photonic crystals with near-field microspectroscopy under supercontinuum illumination

A near-field microscope coupled with a near-infrared (NIR) supercontinuum source is developed and applied to characterize optical modes in a three-dimensional (3D) woodpile photonic crystal (PC) possessing a NIR partial bandgap. Spatially resolved near-field intensity distributions under different illumination wavelengths demonstrate that the electric fields preferentially dwell in the polymer rods or in the gaps between rods, respectively, for frequencies below or above the stop gap, as predicted by the 3D finite-difference time-domain modeling. Near-field microspectroscopy further reveals that the position-dependent band-edge effect plays an important role in PC-based all-optical integrated devices.     

Fabrication and characterization of direct-written 3D TiO_2 woodpile electromagnetic bandgap structures

Three groups of three-dimensional(3D) TiO2 woodpile electromagnetic gap materials with tailed rheological properties were developed for direct-written fabrication. Appropriate amount of polyethyleneimine(PEI) dispersants allow the preparation of TiO2 inks with a high solid content of 42 vol.%, which enables them to flow through the nozzles easily.The inks exhibit pseudoplastic behavior. The measured microwave characteristics of the results agree well with simulations based on plane wave expansion(PWE).     

Optimized structures for photonic quasicrystals

A photonic quasicrystal consists of two or more dielectric materials arranged in a quasiperiodic pattern with noncrystallographic symmetry that has a photonic band gap. We use a novel method to find the pattern with the widest TM-polarized gap for two-component materials. Patterns are obtained by computing a finite sum of density waves, assigning regions where the sum exceeds a threshold to a material with one dielectric constant, epsilon1, and all other regions to another, epsilon0. Compared to optimized crystals, optimized quasicrystals have larger gaps at low constrasts epsilon1/epsilon0 and have gaps that are much more isotropic for all contrasts. For high contrasts, optimized hexagonal crystals have the largest gaps.     

Photospin-orbit coupling in photonic structures

We show that the inclusion of nonlocality in the constitutive relations in photonic structures has important repercussions in their eigenmode configuration and distribution. In the case of optical activity, the primary manifestation of nonlocality, these features are traced to a photospin-orbit interaction analogous to the electron spin-orbit interaction in asymmetric semiconducting compounds; its impact can be assimilated to that of a magnetic field whose magnitude and direction follow that of the photon quasimomentum, with implications in photospin transport and photospintronics.     

Fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) woodpile structure photonic crystal with layer by layer e-beam lithography

Photonic crystal based superprism offers a way to design new optical components for beam steering and DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) application. Three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals are especially attractive as they could offer more control of the light beam. A FCT (Face-Centered-Tetragonal) woodpile structure has been fabricated using layer by layer stacking techniques with E-Beam lithography. Special planarizations and processes have been introduced to ensure the survivability and good alignment of the fabricated nanostructures. Scanning electron microscopy results proved the structure uniformity. With the proper design, the structure exhibits superprism effects around 1550 nm, and such effects have been observed in the experiments.     

Twist defect in chiral photonic structures

We demonstrate that twisting one part of a chiral photonic structure about its helical axis produces a single circularly polarized localized mode that gives rise to an anomalous crossover in propagation. Up to a crossover thickness, this defect results in a peak in transmission and exponential scaling of the linewidth for a circularly polarized wave with the same handedness as structure. Above the crossover, however, the linewidth saturates and the defect mode can be excited only by the oppositely polarized wave, resulting in a peak in reflection instead of transmission.     

Three-dimensional imaging of direct-written photonic structures

Third-harmonic generation microscopy has been used to analyze the morphology of photonic structures created using the femtosecond laser direct-write technique. Three-dimensional waveguide arrays and waveguide-Bragg gratings written in fused-silica and doped phosphate glass were investigated. A sensorless adaptive-optical system was used to correct the optical aberrations occurring in the sample and microscope system, which had a lateral resolution of less than 500?nm. This nondestructive testing method creates volume reconstructions of photonic devices and reveals details invisible to other linear microscopy and index profilometry techniques.     

光子人工微结构材料中的若干类量子现象

类量子现象又称为量子现象的经典对应(quantum-classical analogies),它是利用经典波动行为与量子波动行为的相似性来模拟和研究量子现象.近年来,光子人工微结构材料中类量子现象研究很活跃,文章对这方面的有关研究进展做了简要介绍.内容主要包括光子晶体和超构材料(metamaterials)中的类凝聚态系统量子现象和类原子系统量子现象,如类石墨烯量子现象、类拓扑绝缘体量子现象、类量子动力学现象、类Rabi振荡现象、类电磁感应透明现象、类Fano共振现象等.     

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.     

Interference grating structures in photonic crystal circuits

Photonic Crystal Circuits have been widely investigated for various optoelectronics device applications. And the gratings in photonics devices are indispensable tool, which is very common for light manipulation. In this study, an interference grating structure formed by Gaussian beam interferences in photonic crystal waveguide such that having Kerr type nonlinearity is proposed and its transmission characteristics are investigated. Finite-Difference Time-Domain method is used to analyze the device characteristics. According to simulation results, the interference grating has shown special transmission characteristics that can bring tunability for photonic crystal devices. This can be an effective method for controlling optical signals in the photonic crystal for all optical switching/routing applications as a part of add/drop multiplexing.     

Robust polymer colloidal crystal photonic bandgap structures

New polymeric matrices are presented that embed organic colloidal crystalline arrays (CCA's) into mechanically stable photonic bandgap structures. We achieved these new matrices either by dispersing polystyrene CCA's with high molecular weight hydrophilic polymer [poly(ethylene glycol); (PEG)] or through in situ polymerization of hydrophilic monomers (acrylamide and acrylate functional PEG variants) about the CCA. CCA-dispersed PEG matrices exhibited strong red opalescence with a narrow peak at 614 nm and were sufficiently rigid to withstand repeated mechanical deformation. Visible photonic bandgaps also were observed from free-standing CCA composites with cross-linked poly(N, N-dimethylacrylamide) matrices. The results demonstrate the technological potential for robust organic photonic crystals.     

Terahertz photonic states in semiconductor-graphene cylinder structures

We propose a semiconductor-graphene cylinder that can serve as a terahertz (THz) photonic crystal. In such a structure, graphene plays a role in achieving a strong mismatch of the dielectric constant at the semiconductor-graphene interface due to its two-dimensional nature and relatively low value of the dielectric constant. We find that when the radius of the outer semiconductor layer is about ρ(1)~100 μm, the frequencies of the photonic modes are within the THz bandwidth and they can be efficiently tuned via varying ρ(1). Furthermore, the dispersion relation of the photonic modes shows that a semiconductor-graphene cylinder is of excellent light transport properties, which can be utilized for the THz waveguide. This study is pertinent to the application of graphene as THz photonic devices.     

Optically controllable photonic structures with zero absorption

We show the possibility to periodically modulate the refractive index in a homogeneous resonant atomic medium in space or/and time while simultaneously keeping vanishing absorption or gain. Such modulation is based on periodic resonant enhancement of the refractive index, controlled by an external optical field, and opens the way to produce coherently controllable photonic structures. We suggest the possible implementation of the proposed scheme in rare-earth doped crystals with excited state absorption.     

Spectral self-similarity in fractal one-dimensional photonic structures

Transmission spectra of one-dimensional fractal multilayer structures are found to exhibit self-similar properties. Self-similarity manifests itself in the shape of a transmission envelope (map of transmission dips) rather than in the map of resonance transmission peaks, as is commonly the case with spectra of quasiperiodic systems. To observe the self-similarity, one needs to apply a power transformation to the transmittance in addition to the usual frequency scaling. The values of this power as well as the scaling factor have been calculated analytically and found to depend on the geometrical parameters of the structure.     

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.     

Aperiodic birefringent photonic structures based on Kolakoski sequence

A novel type of aperiodic porous silicon-based multilayered structures which can be used for the electromagnetic radiation manipulation in the visible and infrared parts of spectrum are proposed in this paper. The one-dimensional aperiodic structures under consideration are arranged by stacking together two anisotropic layers according to the Kolakoski self-generation scheme. The spectral properties of the structures are theoretically investigated by using the electromagnetic field scalarization method in coupling with the finite-difference method. It is shown that the Kolakoski multilayers have both completely transparent states in the transmission spectra and pronounced omnidirectional reflectance which can used in integrated optics, optical fiber telecommunications, vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, laser cavities, etc. Also, it is shown numerically that the anisotropic nature of layered media significantly affects on optical properties of the structures.