Investigation of a T-shaped waveguides based on a silicon 2D photonic crystal

Abstract

In the last years there is a considerable interest in designing integrated optoelectronic or all-optical circuits based on photonic crystals (PhC). A PhC structure possess photonic band gap in which the light with a certain frequency range cannot propagate. However, the existence of linear defects causes dispersion relations in photonic band gaps. Light that satisfies in the dispersion relations decay except linear defects and can exist only in linear defects. Modifying some scatters it is possible to create a waveguide inside the PC. This waveguide have great potential in application for their ability to control light wave propagation and the possibilities of implementing PhC based optical devices. We propose a PhC diplexer based on a square lattice of silicon rods. The demupltiplexing mode is fed exploiting the different dispersion relation of the light in the three braches of a T-junction. A difficult challenge is to realise active PhC devices. In order to achieve tunable photonic band gap devices, we investigate the possibility to use the thermo-optic effect and the Liquid Crystals (LCs). The main feature of LCs is the high sensitivity of their optical response to an applied electrical field. Moreover their ability to be micromanipulated, their low cost and the possibility for integration with silicon circuit technology make LCs particularly attractive in designing photonic devices.