Spectra of secondary emission during generation of optical harmonics in globular photonic crystals

Secondary emission spectra of globular silica photonic crystals when their surfaces were exposed to laser pulses 250 fs long at a power density to 1 TW/cm² have been studied. Optical harmonics and plasma emission were detected in this case. For the opal matrix containing pores filled with air, in the reflection mode, the third optical harmonic with a conversion efficiency of ～10% arises. The highest conversion efficiency for exciting radiation with wavelengths of 1026 or 513 nm is implemented when the frequencies of the exciting radiation or the second harmonic are near the stop band edge. In globular photonic crystals filled with sodium nitrite or barium titanate ferroelectrics, the second optical harmonic is observed. The exciting radiation conversion efficiency to the second optical harmonic was a few percent and depended on the frequency of exciting radiation and photonic crystal globule diameters. It is found that the plasma emission intensity increases with the exciting radiation power density. The dependences of the intensity of the second and third optical harmonics on the pump intensity are constructed for various photonic crystal globule diameters.     

Defect modes of chiral photonic crystals with an isotropic defect

Specific features of the defect modes of cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) with an isotropic defect, as well as their photonic density of states, Q factor, and emission, have been investigated. The effect of the thicknesses of the defect layer and the system as a whole, the position of the defect layer, and the dielectric boundaries on the features of the defect modes have been analyzed. It is shown that when the CLC layer is thin the density of states and emission intensity are maximum for the defect mode, whereas when the CLC layer is thick, these peaks are observed at the edges of the photonic band gap. Similarly, when the gain is low, the density of states and emission intensity are maximum for the defect mode, whereas at high gains these peaks are also observed at the edges of the photonic band gap. The possibilities of low-threshold lasing and obtaining high-Q microcavities have been investigated.     

Spontaneous emission from photonic crystals: full vectorial calculations

Quantum electrodynamics of atom spontaneous emission from a three-dimensional photonic crystal is studied in a full vectorial framework. The electromagnetic fields are quantized via solving the eigenproblem of photonic crystals with use of a plane-wave expansion method. It is found that the photon density of states and local density of states (LDOS) with a full band gap vary slowly near the edge of band gap, in significant contrast to the singular character predicted by the previous isotropic model. Therefore, the spontaneous emission can be solved by conventional Weisskopf-Wigner approximate theory, which yields a pure exponentially decaying behavior with a rate proportional to the LDOS.     

Optically excited secondary emission spectra of photonic crystals based on synthetic opals

The photonic dispersion, the group-velocity dispersion, the effective mass, refractive index, and the spectral distribution of the density of photonic states near the edge of the photonic stop band are numerically calculated in the one-dimensional model for photonic crystals based on synthetic opals. The fluorescence spectra of rhodamine 6G and 2,5-bis(2-benzoxazolyl)hydroquinone molecules infiltrated into a synthetic opal are measured. For both substances, it is observed that the spontaneous emission intensity in the range of the photonic stop band is appreciably suppressed. A blue shift of the fluorescence spectrum of rhodamine 6G molecules is revealed. Secondary emission of synthetic opals infiltrated with colloidal silver is observed in the Stokes range under excitation of opals by radiation at λ = 400 nm. The spectrum of the secondary emission is located in the range 450–590 nm, which contains the stop band and intervals near its edges.     

圆柱形散射子二维光子晶体的态密度与局域态密度

二维光子晶体只有赝带隙,因此能否利用二维光子晶体有效控制原子自发辐射是令人感兴趣也是有实际意义的问题。其中最重要的因素是态密度和局域态密度的性质。采用平面波展开结合晶体群论的方法计算了二维正方格子光子晶体的态密度和局域态密度。其中散射子为空气圆柱,放置在均匀的电介质背景上。结果显示两个特点:第一,总态密度和局域态密度在原来二维光子晶体赝带隙处虽然已经不为零,但是取值明显低于赝带隙范围之外的值,即存在一个准光子带隙。第二,局域态密度在空气散射子界面处发生突变,空气散射子区域的局域态密度相对较大,这可由电位移矢量的连续性来理解。由于这两个特点在其他二维光子晶体中也被发现过,它们可能是普遍存在的。     

Suppression and Acceleration Effects of Measurements on A-type Atomic Decay in Anisotropic Photonic Crystals

The measurement-induced suppression and acceleration effects on A-type atomic decay in three-dimensional anisotropic photonic crystals are investigated. We consider the two cases, only one or both of the two atomic resonant frequencies being near the band edge of a photonic crystal. Due to the deformation of the electromagnetic density of states, the repeated projection onto the excited state can lead to decay suppression or acceleration effect already at rather low repetition rates. Such measurement-induced effects are dependent on the frequency of measurements and the relative position of the atomic upper level from the band edge of photonic crystals. The behaviors of instant and effective decay rates are studied in detail, which are different from the case of isotropic photonic crystals.     

双带型光子晶体中双V型四能级原子自发辐射谱中的黑线研究

研究了双带型光子晶体中双V型四能级原子自发辐射的辐射谱.双V型四能级原子同时与真空热库和双带型光子晶体热库耦合.研究发现双V型四能级原子自发辐射谱中有三种不同原因可能引起的黑线：第一种是由于量子干涉效应;第二种是由于各向同性光子晶体带边处态密度具有奇异性;第三种是真空场中的量子干涉和光子晶体禁带内态密度为零共同作用的结果.通过移动光子晶体的带边位置,在各向同性光子晶体带边引入光滑因子,以及在光子晶体中引入缺陷等对这三种黑线的影响,对上述结果进行了分析和讨论. 关键词： 双带型光子晶体 双V型四能级原子 黑线     

Decay of a quantum dot in two-dimensional metallic photonic crystals

In this paper we have developed a theory for the decay of a quantum dot doped in a two-dimensional metallic photonic crystal consisting of two different metallic pillars in an air background medium. This crystal structure forms a full two-dimensional photonic band gap when the appropriate pillar sizes are chosen. The advantage of using two metals is that one can easily control the density of states and optical properties of these photonic crystals by changing the plasma energies of two metals rather than one. Using the Schrödinger equation method and the photonic density of states, we calculated the linewidth broadening and the spectral function of radiation due to spontaneous emission for two-level quantum dots doped in the system. Our results show that by changing the plasma energies one can control spontaneous emission of quantum dots doped in the metallic photonic crystal.     

Localization of electromagnetic waves in three-dimensional fractal cavities

Three-dimensional fractals called the Menger sponge, with a fractal dimension D=log(20/log(3, were fabricated from epoxy resin by stereolithography. Clear attenuation of both reflection and transmission intensity was observed at 12.8 GHz for a cubic specimen with an edge size of 27 mm that was constructed up to the third stage of the self-similar patterns. The electromagnetic field was found to be confined in the central part of the specimen at this frequency. The localization is not caused by the presence of a photonic band gap as in photonic crystals but should be attributed to a singular photon density of states realized in the fractal structure. This is the first report on such localization of electromagnetic waves in three-dimensional fractal cavities.     

Fusion in prospect

In the first part of this introductory review we outline the developments in photonic band gap materials from the physics of photonic band gap formation to the fabrication and potential applications of photonic crystals. We briefly describe the analogies between electron and photon localization, present a simple model of a band structure calculation and describe some of the techniques used for fabricating photonic crystals. Also some applications in the field of photonics and optical circuitry are briefly presented. In the second part, we discuss the consequences for the interaction between an atom and the light field when the former is embedded in photonic crystals of a specific type, exhibiting a specific form of a gap in the density of states. We first briefly review the standard treatment (Weisskopf?–?Wigner theory) in describing the dynamics of spontaneous emission in free space from first principles, and then proceed by explaining the alterations needed to properly treat the case of a two-level atom embedded in a photonic band gap material.     

Spectral narrowing and lasing threshold in self-assembled active photonic crystal

Laser-induced emission from rhodamine-B dye embedded in pseudo band gap opaline photonic crystals is discussed. The photonic crystals are fabricated using rhodamine-B doped polystyrene colloids and show 65% reflectance at the stop band centered at 604 nm. The reflectance of the crystal is increased to 74% by coating with a thin layer of gold. Both spontaneous and stimulated emissions of the dye are observed in the photonic stop band environment by exciting the crystal with the second harmonic (532 nm) of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The thin layer of gold functioned as a high reflecting end mirror to the dye-doped cavity when the crystal is pumped from the substrate side. Angle-dependent suppression at the stop band wavelength is observed in the spontaneous emission of the dye. Spectrally narrow stimulated emission and lasing is achieved in the gold coated dyed PhC at a threshold pump power of 60 mW in a selective direction of 22° from the direction of excitation. By studying emission from several photonic crystals with different number of layers, it is concluded that a sharp threshold for lasing is not observed in uncoated photonic crystals when they contained fewer than 30 ordered layers and lesser than 70% reflectance.     

Variation of spontaneous emission in the opal stop-band with an enhanced refractive-index contrast

Photoluminescence spectra of an opal with an anatase layer grown on its inner surface were studied. Measurements were carried out with a high angular resolution at various pump power levels and detection angles. The intensity and probability of emission were found to acquire an anisotropy corresponding to the frequency and angular dispersion of the first opal photonic band gap. As the pump power increases, the suppression of spontaneous emission in the photonic band gap is shown to be replaced by its amplification. The amplification of spontaneous emission is tentatively assigned to the existence of localized defect optical modes in the photonic band gap.     

Microwave control of spontaneous emission of a driven four-level atom in photonic crystals

We study the coherent control of spontaneous emission of a double-driven four-level atom embedded in photonic crystals. Combined effect of different relative locations between the upper band edge and the two upper levels and the phase of microwave coupling field is discussed. It is shown that quantum interference effect such as laser-induced dark line depends strongly on the phase of microwave field.     

Nature of the short wavelength excitations in vitreous silica: An X-Ray brillouin scattering study

Spontaneous emission in photonic crystals with anisotropic three-dimensional dispersion relation is studied. If the upper level is below a characteristic frequency omega(1), or above omega(2), or between omega(1) and omega(2), the radiation is a localized field with a frequency in the band gap, or a propagating field with a frquency in the band, or a diffusion field, respectively. An analytical expression for the Lamb shift is obtained. The Lamb shift for the current case is small compared to that in an ordinary vacuum or in one- or two-dimensional photonic crystals due to lower density of states.     

Direct observation of non-Markovian radiation dynamics in 3D bulk photonic crystals

Since the very first proposition of photonic crystals, their influence on the dynamics of spontaneous emission has been of great interest. The radiation dynamics is described by an integration kernel which--in a spectral representation--comprises two equally important contributions: the Lamb shift and the radiative contribution to the linewidth. The latter is connected to the density of states via Fermi's golden rule. To our knowledge, we present the first spatially resolved measurement of the complete radiation dynamics in a photonic crystal and of its local density of states over a wide spectral range. To this end we study a single magnetic dipole situated in a photonic crystal with a band gap at microwave frequencies and find non-Markovian behavior in excellent agreement with ab initio calculations.     

Photonic band gaps structure properties of two-dimensional function photonic crystals

The tunable two-dimensional photonic crystals band gap, absolute photonic band gap and semi-Dirac point are beneficial to designing the novel optical devices. In this paper, tunable photonic band gaps structure was realized by a new type two-dimensional function photonic crystals, which dielectric constants of medium columns are functions of space coordinates. However for the two-dimensional conventional photonic crystals the dielectric constant does not change with space coordinates. As the parameter adjustment, we found that the photonic band gaps structures are dielectric constant function coefficient, medium columns radius, dielectric constant function form period number and pump light intensity dependent, namely, the photonic band gaps position and width can be tuned. we also obtained absolute photonic band gaps and semi-Dirac point in the photonic band gaps structures of two-dimensional function photonic crystals. These results provide an important theoretical foundation for design novel optical devices.     

Two-dimensional photonic crystals with pure germanium-on-insulator

We have investigated pure germanium two-dimensional photonic crystals. The photonic crystals which exhibit resonances in the near infrared spectral range were fabricated on germanium-on-insulator substrates using standard silicon-based processing. The germanium-on-insulator substrate consists of a thin layer of pure germanium-on-oxide deposited on a silicon substrate. The optical properties are probed by the direct band gap optical recombination of pure germanium at room temperature. Resonant optical modes are evidenced between 1.68 and 1.53 μm in different type of hexagonal cavities (H1-H5). The spectral position of the modes is controlled by the lattice periodicity and air filling factor of the photonic crystals. Close to the Ge band edge, the quality factors are limited by the bulk material absorption.     

The rapid preparation of large-scale CdS opal photonic crystals and study of the optical properties

Monodispersed silica microspheres of 270 nm are synthesized by a colloidal solution method. Larger scale perfect three-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs) are rapidly prepared using the evaporation of acetone to self-assemble the microspheres on quartz substrates by vertical deposition methods. We find that the pseudo-photonic band gap (PBG) of the PC structure changes with increasing annealing temperature; it drastically shifts from 450 nm for as-grown crystals to 409 nm for annealing at 800 °C. CdS photonic crystals are formed by infiltrating CdS nanocrystals of 6 nm into the SiO₂ PC structure. The transmission and spontaneous emission characteristics of CdS PCs have been investigated. The clear dip in the spontaneous emission spectrum relates to the photonic band gap of CdS PCs, indicating that the spontaneous emission is inhibited in the region of the PBG. The emission band of CdS PCs becomes narrower and sharper than that of CdS nanocrystals; this demonstrates that the emission band and intensity of the luminescent devices will be tuned by controlling the position of the PBG. PACS 42.70.Qs; 42.25.Bs; 78.20.-e; 78.55.Et     

Fabrication of silica/zinc oxide core–shell colloidal photonic crystals

We have fabricated three-dimensional ZnO photonic crystals by the self-assembly of SiO₂/ZnO core–shell microspheres of diameter 180–220 nm by means of a vertical deposition method. The organized crystals adopt a uniform close-packed hexagonal structure with long-range order and a high filling fraction. They exhibit strong partial photonic band gaps at 565–688 nm in the transmission spectrum and a broadened band edge emission at 383 nm in the photoluminescence spectrum. For comparison with these ZnO photonic crystals, we have also prepared pure silica crystals of the same dimensions. The photonic band gaps of the former have been found to be shifted to a longer wavelength by about 200 nm compared to those of the latter as a result of the higher refractive index of ZnO. This approach provides an efficient, economical alternative means of obtaining other, more complicated photonic crystals. PACS 82.70.D; 61.46.w; 61.82.Rx; 68.37.Hk