Resonant scattering and second-harmonic spectroscopy of planar photonic crystal microcavities

Abstract

The resonant modes of two-dimensional planar photonic crystal microcavities patterned in a free-standing InP slab are probed in a novel fashion using a long working distance microscope objective to obtain cross-polarized resonant scattering and second-harmonic spectra. We show that these techniques can be used to do rapid effective assays of large arrays of microcavities that do not necessarily contain resonant light-emitting layers. The techniques are demonstrated using microcavities comprised of single missing-hole defects in hexagonal photonic crystal hosts formed with elliptically shaped holes. These cavities typically support two orthogonally polarized resonant modes, and the resonant scattering and harmonic spectra are well fitted using a coherent sum of Lorentzian functions. The well-defined coherence between the two resonant features is explained in terms of a microscopic harmonic oscillator model. The relative merits of these techniques are quantitatively compared with the more commonly used cavity-enhanced photoluminescence technique.