Quantitative Measurement of Transmission, Reflection, and Diffraction of Two-Dimensional Photonic Band Gap Structures at Near-Infrared Wavelengths

Abstract

We present quantitative measurements of the interaction between a guided optical wave and a two-dimensional photonic crystal using spontaneous emission of the material as an internal point source. This is the first analysis at near-infrared wavelengths where transmission, reflection, and inplane diffraction are quantified at the same time. Low transmission coincides with high reflection or in-plane diffraction, indicating that the light remains guided upon interaction. Also, good qualitative agreement is found with a two-dimensional simulation based on the transfer matrix method. [S0031-9007(97)04591-2]

Optical properties of photonic crystal slabs with an asymmetrical unit cell

“…The physics behind is the coupling between photonic and different electronic resonances in such structures. They manifest themselves via pronounced resonant Wood's anomalies [9,10,11] in the optical spectra, due to the excitation of quasiguided [2,3,12,13,14,15] or surface plasmon [4,16,17,18] or both [19] modes. On the other hand, making complicated unit cells, e.g., characterized by a lack of 180 o -rotational symmetry in the PCS plane [17,20] adds new ways to control the interaction with light.…”

Photonic crystals in the optical regime — past, present and future

“…semiconductor heterostructure waveguides. These structures have allowed the observation of a variety of PBG e!ects, including high transmission, re#ection and very sharp "ltering characteristics [29,30]. Also, keeping the substrate has the great advantage of allowing current injection.…”

“…that narrow, it usually incurs considerable scattering losses, since the holes or pillars that constitute the lattice can never be perfectly smooth or perfectly aligned in size and/or position. Measurements on such waveguides in the optical regime have not yet been performed, to our knowledge, but related data [29,42] suggests that a few unit cells of photonic crystal waveguide already imply a noticeable loss. There is no doubt that this loss can be reduced, but it is not at all obvious that it can be brought down to a level where cascading a series of functional waveguide elements, requiring 100s of unit cells, becomes a practical option.…”

“…Due to its versatility, the technique has enabled the simultaneous measurement of transmission, re#ection and di!raction, i.e. a complete and quantitative assessment of the interaction between the incoming light and the photonic lattice [29]. Moreover, the PL-technique can be used to excite light inside a structure and examine the internal properties of the photonic crystal, e.g.…”

“…100 nm holes etched 600}800 nm deep, Fig. 4), which has been su$cient to demonstrate a range of PBG e!ects in the waveguide geometry, with moderate losses [28,29,42].…”