Long-range surface polaritons in a supported thin metallic slab

It is shown that a thin metallic slab supported by a thick transparent slab may guide infrared surface polaritons (SP) with propagation lengths larger than those of SP in a semi-infinite metals. These long-range SP are “virtual” in the sense that their electromagnetic field is oscillatory across the supporting slab.     

Efficient transmission in cascaded photonic crystal waveguides via a strong coupling effect

A design of cascaded photonic crystal waveguide is proposed in this paper inspired by the work of Tang et al. [D. Tang, L. Chen, W. Ding, Appl. Phys. Lett. 89 (2006) 131120]. In contrast to a conventional waveguide source, a plane wave source is applied in the current design. We show that an efficient guide mode in the photonic band gap can be achieved. The same idea also works for a slight variation by defects introduction in the photonic crystal. Finally, the strong coupling effect present in the cascaded waveguides is demonstrated by an analogy with photonic quantum wells.     

The narrow band THz filter in metallic photonic crystal slab framework: Design and investigation

A band pass THz filter has been presented by the aid of coupling between the waveguides and ring resonator based on metallic photonic crystal slab. The rows of rods are missed and remaining rods in the rows play as a reflector then the position of central rods are rearranged as a ring, the radius of reflector rods and ring resonator is modified in order to optimize the resonance frequency and Q-factor. In addition, 3D-FDTD method is used for simulation results. One of the predominant features of the proposed structure for THz filter is its capability of obtaining a Q-factor of about 333 in the 1 THz resonance frequency with the normalized peak transmission of higher than 0.7, because of high Q-factor cavity based on ring resonator.     

Waveguide plasmon polaritons in metal-dielectric photonic crystal slabs

The optical properties of arrays of metallic (gold) nanowires deposited on dielectric substrates are studied both theoretically and experimentally. Depending on the substrate, Wood’s anomalies of two types are observed in the transmission spectra of such planar metal-dielectric photonic crystals. One of them is diffraction (Rayleigh) anomalies associated with the opening of diffraction channels to the substrate or air with an increase in the frequency of the incident light. The other type of Wood’s anomaly is resonance anomalies associated with excitation of surface quasi-guided modes in the substrate. Coupling of the quasi-guided modes with individual nanowire plasmons brings about the formation of waveguide plasmon polaritons. This effect is accompanied by a strong rearrangement of the optical spectrum and can be utilized to control the photonic bands of metal-dielectric photonic crystal slabs.     

Bragg polaritons: strong coupling and amplification in an unfolded microcavity

Periodic incorporation of quantum wells inside a one-dimensional Bragg structure is shown to enhance coherent coupling of excitons to the electromagnetic Bloch waves. We demonstrate strong coupling of quantum well excitons to photonic crystal Bragg modes at the edge of the photonic band gap, which gives rise to mixed Bragg polariton eigenstates. The resulting Bragg polariton branches are in good agreement with the theory and allow demonstration of Bragg polariton parametric amplification.     

Coherent thermal antenna using a photonic crystal slab

We show that a photonic crystal film can emit coherent thermal radiation. We demonstrate the key role of leaky waves existing at the air-photonic crystal interface. The frequency and direction of emission depend on the lattice parameters. This paves the way towards the design of coherent infrared antennas.     

Superprism effect in a metal-clad terahertz photonic crystal slab

We report an experimental demonstration of the superprism effect in a photonic crystal slab at terahertz frequencies. For a 10% frequency variation around 0.28 THz, the refraction angle at the output facet of a wedge-shaped photonic crystal varies by about 15 degrees. A comparison with the predictions of a band structure calculation demonstrates that a three-dimensional treatment, accurately modeling the finite slab thickness and the metallic boundary conditions, is required for even a qualitative agreement with the experimental observations.     

High-Q microcavities realized in a circular photonic crystal slab

A series of microcavities in circular photonic crystal slabs are studied in this paper. It is shown that high quality factors can be obtained for such microcavities. For a cavity with three inner layers of air holes missing, Q factor larger than 10⁵ can be obtained. It is also worth noting there exists resonant modes with high quality factors, even for the defect-free circular photonic crystal slab, due to gradual change of the average effective index.     

Electromagnetic field in a slab of photonic crystal by BPM

The finite-difference vector beam propagation method is used to simulate propagation of Gaussian light beam in a finite slab of photonic crystal. A possibility to control light flow by the change of symmetry and polarisation of the incident light beam is demonstrated.     

Observation of surface states in a truncated photonic crystal slab

The effect of lattice termination on the surface states in a two-dimensional truncated photonic crystal slab is experimentally studied in a high-index-contrast silicon-on-insulator system. A single-mode silicon strip waveguide that is separated from the photonic crystal by a trench of variable width is used to evanescently couple to surface states in the surrounding lattice. It is demonstrated that the dispersion of the surface states depends strongly on the specific termination of the lattice.     

Absorption of surface polaritons by molecules near the surface of a metallic slab

The cross section for absorption of surface polaritons (SP) by molecules above a metallic slab is calculated quantum mechanically. It shows a strong dependence on the thickness of the slab. This feature, even more pronounced, should also appear in more complex processes involving SP. It is also argued that SP guided by thin metallic films should be a useful tool in the spectroscopy of absorbates.     

Effect of anisotropy on the photonic band gap and surface polaritons of a one-dimensional single-negative photonic crystal

The effect of anisotropy on the photonic band structure and surface polaritons of a one-dimensional photonic crystal made of uniaxially anisotropic epsilon-negative (ε<0,μ>0) and mu-negative (ε>0,μ<0) metamaterials is theoretically investigated. Two different cases of uniaxially anisotropic epsilon-negative and mu-negative metamaterials are considered. It is found out that for one case of anisotropy, one-dimensional photonic crystal does not have any single-negative band gap. As a result, it can not support the surface polaritons. While, for another case, the structure shows single-negative band gaps. So, the surface polaritons can be excited at the interface of such a photonic crystal. However, these surface polaritons, unlike the isotropic case, are not omnidirectional and they are restricted to a limited rang of the propagation constant.     

Back-propagating surface polaritons of a one-dimensional photonic crystal containing single negative metamaterials

The existence of the surface polaritons at the interface separating a semi-infinite uniform left-handed metamaterial and a one-dimensional photonic crystal composed of alternating layers of two kinds of single-negative materials is theoretically investigated. The dispersion characteristics of the surface polaritons are analyzed and demonstrated that in the presence of metamaterial, the surface polaritons are sensitive to light polarization, so that there exist only backward TM-polarized (or TE-polarized) kind of the surface polaritons depending on the ratio of the thicknesses of the two periodic stacking layers. The existence regions of the surface polariton modes are determined for both TM-polarized and TE-polarized surface polariton modes.     

FDTD study of subwavelength imaging by a photonic crystal slab

The problem of subwavelength imaging via a photonic crystal slab lens made of two-dimensional (2D) square arrays of parallel dielectric cylinders in air is studied and discussed theoretically. The finite-difference time-domain method is employed to investigate the unique features of imaging by such lens. We confirm earlier findings that a photonic crystal slab lens can provide the imaging of a point source. By analysing the transmission properties of the proposed structure, we demonstrate that inside the all-angle negative refraction, there are some favourable directions for waves to travel. We show that the surface termination of the photonic crystal is a key parameter to obtain a good quality image. The super-resolution of two sources separated by a distance less than the wavelength is also considered. It is shown that the achievable resolution is limited by the slab length.     

Optomechanical coupling in a two-dimensional photonic crystal defect cavity

Periodically structured materials can sustain both optical and mechanical modes. Here we investigate and observe experimentally the optomechanical properties of a conventional two-dimensional suspended photonic crystal defect cavity with a mode volume of ~3(λ/n)3. Two families of mechanical modes are observed: flexural modes, associated to the motion of the whole suspended membrane, and localized modes with frequencies in the GHz regime corresponding to localized phonons in the optical defect cavity of diffraction-limited size. We demonstrate direct measurements of the optomechanical vacuum coupling rate using a frequency calibration technique. The highest measured values exceed 80 kHz, demonstrating high coupling of optical and mechanical modes in such structures.     

Microcavity plasmonics: strong coupling of photonic cavities and plasmons

The understanding of light‐matter interactions at the nanoscale lays the groundwork for many future technologies, applications and materials. The scope of this article is the investigation of coupled photonic‐plasmonic systems consisting of a combination of photonic microcavities and metallic nanostructures. In such systems, it is possible to observe an exceptionally strong coupling between electromagnetic light modes of a resonator and collective electron oscillations (plasmons) in the metal. Furthermore, the results have shown that coupled photonic‐plasmonic structures possess a considerably higher sensitivity to changes in their environment than conventional localized plasmon sensors due to a plasmon excitation phase shift that depends on the environment.     

Surface Tamm states in a photonic crystal slab with asymmetric termination

The reflection and transmission spectra of a finite thickness 2D photonic crystal slab (PCS) based on macroporous silicon are investigated. Periodic photonic crystal region is separated from air by homogeneous silicon interfacial layers. These interfacial layers at the silicon/air boundary being defects of the photonic crystal lattice, define the properties of surface Tamm states in the photonic stop‐bands (PSBs). It is demonstrated experimentally and theoretically that the reflection spectra of a structure with different thicknesses of the interfacial layers on both sides of the PCS depend on the illuminated side. At the same time, the transmission spectra are identical for both light directions in agreement with the reciprocity principle. Analysis shows that the dependence of the reflection spectrum on the side of light entrance is due to scattering losses in the real structure. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Correlation effects in disordered metallic photonic crystal slabs

We analyze the influence of correlations on the optical properties of disordered metallic photonic crystal slabs experimentally and theoretically. Different disorder models with different nearest-neighbor correlations are considered. We present a theory that allows us to quantitatively calculate the optical properties of the different samples. We find that different kinds of correlations produce characteristic spectral features such as peak reduction and inhomogeneous broadening. These features are caused by reduced excitation efficiencies and the excitation of multiple resonances.     

等离子体填充金属光子晶体Cherenkov辐射源模拟研究

等离子体填充能够明显提高真空电子器件的效率和功率, 研究等离子体填充器件具有重要的科学价值. 本文基于对等离子体填充金属光子晶体慢波结构色散特性的分析, 利用粒子模拟方法展示了等离子体填充慢波结构中的注波互作用过程. 重点研究了慢波结构中场分布特性、等离子体密度和外部工作条件对频率及输出功率的影响. 研究发现, 填充一定密度等离子体后, 慢波结构内纵向和横向电场强度明显增大, 注波互作用增强, 输出频率受等离子体影响不大. 金属光子晶体结构具有的频率选择特性使器件工作于TM₀₁模态. 阴极电压增加使输出功率增大, 频率略有增加. 引导磁场增加使输出功率先增大后减小, 而频率基本不受影响. 等离子体填充后器件的输出功率上升, 当增加压强至100 mTorr(1 mTorr=0.133 Pa) 时, 输出功率提高约20%, 但只有适当密度下才有较好的角向场分布. 通过理论与模拟相结合, 发现填充一定密度的等离子体能够提高器件输出功率和效率, 为发展新型高功率毫米波振荡辐射源奠定了理论和仿真基础.     

Surface plasmon polaritons mediated by surface modes in a metal-based photonic crystal complex structure

A hybrid metal–organic–photonic crystal (PC), a gold film with a SU8 film on its top followed by a three-dimensional (3D) PC, was designed to exercise additional control upon the photon behaviors. Attenuated total reflection measurements demonstrate that the 3D PC plays a crucial role in the formation of significant optical properties of the metal-based hybrid and the reflectivity minimum in its reflectivity curve is, mostly, a result of synergetic action of the coupling of surface plasmon polaritons to surface modes and additional guided modes yielded in the resonant cavity composed of the gold film and the PC.