Electromagnetic bound states in the radiation continuum for periodic double arrays of subwavelength dielectric cylinders

Abstract

Electromagnetic bound states in the radiation continuum are studied for periodic double arrays of subwavelength dielectric cylinders in TM polarization. They are similar to localized waveguide mode solutions of Maxwell’s equations for metal cavities or defects of photonic crystals, but, in contrast to the latter, their spectrum lies in the radiation continuum. The phenomenon is identical to the existence of bound states in the radiation continuum in quantum mechanics, discovered by von Neumann and Wigner. In the formal scattering theory, these states appear as resonances with the vanishing width. For the system studied, the bound states are shown to exist at specific distances between the arrays in the spectral region where one or two diffraction channels are open. Analytic solutions are obtained for all bound states (below the radiation continuum and in it) in the limit of thin cylinders (the cylinder radius is much smaller than the wavelength). The existence of bound states is also established in the spectral region where three and more diffraction channels are open, provided the dielectric constant and radius of the cylinders are fine-tuned. The near field and scattering resonances of the structure are investigated when the distance between the arrays varies in a neighborhood of its critical values at which the bound states are formed. In particular, it is shown that the near field in the scattering process becomes significantly amplified in specific regions of the array as the distance approaches its critical values. The effect may be used to control optical nonlinear effects by varying the distance between the arrays near its critical values.