Strain-tunable optical valves at T-junction waveguides in photonic crystals

Abstract

We propose to use tunable splitting of a degenerate photon state inside the band gap of a photonic crystal for the design of active tunable photonic crystal circuits. The effect we exploit is analogous to the static Jahn-Teller effect in solids. We demonstrate that effect is tunable by the symmetry and magnitude of the lattice distortion. Using this effect, we design an optical valve that controls the resonant coupling of the photon modes at the corner of a T-junction waveguide structure.