Photonic Crystal Slab Structure Research Articles

Efficient Thermo-Optic Switching and Modulating in Nonlocal Metasurfaces.

High-Q optical resonances in nonlocal metasurfaces, benefiting from significantly enhanced light/matter interactions, feature strong responses even under a weak external stimulus. In this work, we leverage the high-Q resonances of quasi-guided modes (QGMs) supported by a photonic crystal slab (PCS) structure to achieve efficient optical switching/modulation. The QGMs with an experimentally measured Q-factor of ∼2200 are realized by shifting every second column of air holes in a rectangular lattice within a silicon slab. At a weak illumination intensity of less than 4.0 W/cm2 from a 532 nm continuous-wave pump laser, the QGM resonance around 1550 nm experiences a pronounced spectral shift, with modulation depth exceeding 55%. This is attributed to the thermo-optic response caused by photothermal heating of the metasurface triggered by the absorption of the pump laser in silicon, which is further verified by the electrical heating approach. Our reported results showcase a simple yet effective way of tailoring light propagation in nonlocal metasurfaces.

Near-field observation of mid-infrared edge modes in topological photonic crystals

Topological photonic crystals inherit the unique properties of topological insulators, including topologically protected energy transfer and unidirectional propagation, which offer an excellent platform for exploring exotic physics and developing photonic devices. However, topological photonic crystals possessing mid-infrared edge modes that have potential applications in infrared imaging, biosensing, thermal radiation energy transfer, etc., are seldom brought into focus. In this work, we study the topological properties of a photonic crystal slab (PCS) consisting of silicon square veins in the mid-infrared, which is intended to mimic the two-dimensional Su–Schrieffer–Heeger model. By interfacing topologically trivial and nontrivial PCSs, mid-infrared edge modes can appear at domain wall, according to the principle of bulk-edge correspondence. It is also demonstrated high-efficiency mid-infrared light transport can be achieved by these edge modes. In addition, adjusting the vertical offset near the interface can manipulate the bandwidth for various applications and turns the connected PCS structure to a photonic realization of Rice–Mele model. We further fabricate the PCS and provide an experimental observation of transverse-electric-like edge modes in mid-infrared by using the scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope. Additionally, we integrate it with phase change material of nanoscale thickness, Ge2Sb2Te5, to realize an ultrafast and switchable topological waveguide with zero static power. This work not only enriches the fundamental understanding of topological physics in mid-infrared optical settings, but also shows promising prospects in compact devices for energy transfer and information processing for light sources in these wavelengths, for instance, thermal radiation.

Transverse Magnetic Mode Laser in Photonic Crystal Nanobeam Cavity

We experimentally demonstrate a transverse magnetic (TM) mode laser in a photonic crystal (PhC) slab structure at room temperature. This study proposes a PhC nanobeam (NB) cavity to support a high-quality-factor ($Q$-factor) TM mode. For a large and complete photonic band gap, the PhC NB structures consist of large air holes in a thick dielectric slab. The PhC NB cavity is optimized numerically for a high-$Q$-factor TM mode of over 1 000 000 by reducing the radii of the air holes quadratically from the center to the edge of the PhC NB. A single-TM-mode lasing action is observed in an In-Ga-As-P quantum well (QW)-embedded optimized PhC NB cavity structure at room temperature via optical pulse pumping, where the QW layer is lightly etched. We believe that the TM mode lasers in PhC NB cavities with a lightly etched QW can be good candidates for a surface plasmon excitation source or a highly sensitive optical sensor.

Quasi-guided modes resulting from the band folding effect in a photonic crystal slab for enhanced interactions of matters with free-space radiations.

We elucidate that guided modes supported by a regular photonic crystal slab structure composed of a square lattice of air holes in a silicon slab will transition into quasi-guided (leaky) modes when the radius of every second column of air holes is changed slightly. This intentional geometric perturbation will lead to a doubling of the period in one direction and the corresponding shrinkage of the first Brillouin zone. Because of the translational symmetry in the k-space, leaky waves inheriting the spatial dispersion of the original guided modes, which do not interact with external radiation, will appear with the dispersion curves above the light cone. Our results show that ultrahigh Q-factor resonances with large operating bandwidth can be achieved. Interestingly, the perturbation in only one direction of the photonic lattice will lead to an in-plane wave number-dependent resonance characteristic in both directions. Our numerical results demonstrate a local enhancement of the electric field magnitude by the order of 102, which is even more significant than those in most plasmonic structures. These quasi-guided modes with superior properties will provide a new platform for efficient light-matter interactions.

High-speed tunable optical absorber based on a coupled photonic crystal slab and monolayer graphene structure.

Reconfigurable metasurfaces have been pursued intensively in recent years for the ability to modulate the light after fabrication. However, the optical performances of these devices are limited by the efficiency, actuation response speed and mechanical control for reconfigurability. In this paper, we propose a fast tunable optical absorber based on the critical coupling of resonance mode to absorptive medium and the plasma dispersion effect of free carriers in semiconductor. The tunable absorber structure includes a single-layer or bi-layer silicon photonic crystal slab (PCS) to induce a high-Q optical resonance, a monolayer graphene as the absorption material, and bottom reflector to remove transmission. By modulating the refractive index of PCS via the plasma dispersion of the free carrier, the critical coupling condition is shifted in spectrum, and the device acquires tuning capability between perfect absorption and total reflection of the incident monochromatic light beam. Simulation results show that, with silicon index change of 0.015, the tunable absorption of light can achieve the reflection/absorption switching, and full range of reflection phase control is feasible in the over coupling region. The proposed reconfigurable structure has potential applications in remote sensing, free-space communications, LiDAR, and imaging.

Deep Learning for the Modeling and Inverse Design of Radiative Heat Transfer

Deep learning is having a tremendous impact in many areas of computer science and engineering. Motivated by this success, deep neural networks are attracting an increasing attention in many other disciplines, including physical sciences. In this work, we show that artificial neural networks can be successfully used in the theoretical modeling and analysis of a variety of radiative heat transfer phenomena and devices. By using a set of custom-designed numerical methods able to efficiently generate the required training datasets, we demonstrate this approach in the context of three very different problems, namely, (i) near-field radiative heat transfer between multilayer systems that form hyperbolic metamaterials, (ii) passive radiate cooling in photonic-crystal slab structures, and (iii) thermal emission of subwavelength objects. Despite their fundamental differences in nature, in all three cases we show that simple neural network architectures trained with datasets of moderate size can be used as fast and accurate surrogates for doing numerical simulations, as well as engines for solving inverse design and optimization in the context of radiative heat transfer. Overall, our work shows that deep learning and artificial neural networks provide a valuable and versatile toolkit for advancing the field of thermal radiation.

Terahertz vortex beam generator based on bound states in the continuum.

Vortex beams are playing an increasingly crucial role in wireless optical communications. Traditional vortex beam generators based on spiral phase plates and metasurfaces have a geometric center in real space, which limit their convenience in practical applications. In this work, we propose that the creation of a vortex beam can be achieved by using the bound state in the continuum (BIC) supported by a photonic crystal slab structure. Theoretical analysis shows that the proposed structure can be used as a kind of "momentum-space resonators" and thus can generate vortex beams. Moreover, higher-order vortex beams can also be achieved by changing the symmetry of photonic crystal slab, thus paving the way for the application of vortex beams in the fields of quantum information processing and micro optical micromanipulation.

Cost-efficient and high precision method for the assembly of LN-based photonic crystal slabs on the fiber tip for the implementation of E-field sensors

Lab-on-fiber technology is an emerging topic for sensing cutting-edge technologies due to the high versatility and functionality that it offers when it is combined with different sensitive materials. A particular configuration, which consists of the integration of nanophotonic structures into the tip of a pigtailed fiber, allows the exploitation of light localization performances to produce high-performing sensors. However, integrating such tiny structures into the fiber facet requires complex and expensive procedures. In this work, we report a novel high precision assembly procedure that ensures the parallelism between the photonic chip and the fiber surface, in addition to the alignment with the light injection into the nanostructure. The integrated structure consists of an ultra-compact (19 μm × 19 μm) Photonic Crystal Slab (PCS) structure based on a 700 nm thin film of lithium niobate (LN) which is sensitive to external E-fields via the electro-optic effect. Thus, the assembled sensor detects electric fields, presenting great linearity and a sensitivity of 170 V/m. This technique shows a way to assemble compact planar nanostructures into fiber facets keeping high throughput, high precision, and relatively low costs.

Compact Incoherent Image Differentiation with Nanophotonic Structures

There are significant recent interests in using nanophotonic structures to perform differentiation operation on images for edge detection purposes. All previous works using nanophotonic structures, however, can only operate with coherent light. Here we introduce a hybrid optoelectronic approach that enables one to use nanophotonic structures to perform differentiation operation with incoherent light. As a demonstration, we consider a photonic crystal slab structure and show that differentiation operation with incoherent light can be achieved by subtracting the optical transfer function of the structure at two different frequencies. Our method is robust to noise and directly integrable into existing imaging systems and, thus, points to a new avenue for improving image sensors using nanophotonic structures.

Enhanced optical squeezing from quasi-bound states in the continuum and Fano resonances without nonlinearity

To achieve a high degree of quantum noise squeezing, nonlinear optical interaction process is often employed. Here, we propose to utilize quasi-bound states in the continuum (quasi-BICs) and Fano resonances to enhance optical squeezing without nonlinearity. The theory of quantization for electromagnetic fields in the periodic nanostructure with dispersion and absorption has been developed by means of the Green’s function technique with the plane wave expansion method. The quasi-BICs and Fano resonances of radiation modes are realized by designing the photonic crystal slab structure. Based on these quasi-BICs and Fano resonances, we demonstrate that strong squeezed states can be realized by using the balanced homodyne detection scheme. The squeezing degree can be improved by more than 14 times when a weak squeezed states passes through the structure with quasi-BICs and Fano resonances. The advantage of this method is that it is not only efficient but also easy to implement because the nonlinear optical processes are not employed, which is very beneficial for the quantum information processing and precision metrology.

Design and analysis of a 09 Tb/s six-channel WDM filter based on photonic crystal waveguides

A six-channel wavelength-division multiplexing filter is proposed in this paper, based on a two-dimensional rods-in-air square-lattice photonic crystal (PhC) slab structure. The plane wave expansion method is applied to compute the band structure of the PhC. Three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain simulation methodology is used to measure and analyze the performance of the filter. Performances for both the 2D and 3D designs of the structure are analyzed. The analyses show that the device is capable of filtering six different wavelengths, i.e., 1310 nm, 1415 nm, 1455 nm, 1550 nm, 1725 nm, and 1770 nm. Owing to its linear optical operation, the device is able to operate at low power and also offers a high data rate in the range of $ \approx 0.9\,\,{\rm Tb/s} $≈0.9Tb/s to $ \approx 4\,\,{\rm Tb/s} $≈4Tb/s. Moreover, the footprint area of the proposed device is on the order of $ {165}\,\,{{\unicode{x00B5}{\rm m}}^2} $165µm2, which is suitable for high-density integration of photonic circuits.

Polarization-independent waveguides based on the complete band gap of the two-dimensional photonic crystal slabs

Two-dimensional photonic crystal (PC) slabs exhibiting photonic band gaps (PBGs) in both TE and TM polarizations are of particular interest for a better control of light propagation and easy experimental fabrication. Through reducing the symmetry of the PC lattice, simultaneous realization of PBGs in both TE and TM polarizations within a certain frequency region can be achieved. Based on the air holes immersed in the silicon background, two kinds of two-dimensional PC slab structures are proposed. These are a honeycomb lattice of circular air holes with different sizes and larger circles, and smaller triangles alternately arranged, respectively. The light transmittances show that these two structures offer large complete band gaps. Different kinds of straight waveguides are designed, and their abilities of localizing the incident beam are studied by analysing the light transmittances and spatial field distributions, where the light energy is localized perfectly in the optimized waveguide structure. Our proposed PC slab waveguides are convenient for fabrication, and could be applied in future all-optical integrated circuits.

Arbitrary Polarization Conversion with a Photonic Crystal Slab

AbstractIt is shown that a simple photonic crystal slab structure provides a powerful mechanism for the control of the polarization properties of light. For a lossless system, for a given incident light with any fixed polarization, one can generate arbitrary polarization in the reflected light, as one varies the direction of the incident light. In the lossy system, the capability for arbitrary polarization generation is still preserved for s‐ or p‐polarized incident light. This capability for arbitrary polarization generation closely relates to the nontrivial topological properties of the reflection matrix of the structure and exists over a wide range of frequencies.

Photonic band engineering in absorbing media for spectrally selective optoelectronic films.

Spectrally selective materials are of great interest for optoelectronic devices in which wavelength-selectivity of the photoactive material is necessary for applications such as multi-junction solar cells, narrow-band photodetectors, transparent photovoltaics, and tailored emission sources. Achieving controlled transparency or opacity within multiple wavelength bands in the absorption, reflection, and transmission spectra are difficult to achieve in traditional semiconductors that typically absorb at all energies above their electronic band gap and is generally realized by the use of external bandpass filters. Here, we propose an alternate method for achieving spectral selectivity in optoelectronic thin films: the use of photonic band engineering within the absorbing region of a semiconductor in which resonant photonic bands are strongly coupled to the external reflectivity and transmission spectra. As a first step, we use optical simulations to systematically study the effect of material absorption on the properties of the photonic bands in a photonic crystal slab structure. We find that adding a weak loss to the materials model does not appreciably change the frequencies of the photonic bands but does reduce the quality factor of the associated photonic modes. Critically, the radiating photonic bands induce strong Fano resonance features in the transmission and reflection spectra, even in the presence of material absorption, due to coupling between the bands and external electromagnetic plane waves. These resonances can be tuned by adjusting the photonic crystal structural properties to induce spectral selectivity in the absorbing region of semiconductors. Lastly, we demonstrate this tuning method experimentally by fabricating a proof-of-principle photonic structure consisting of a self-assembled polystyrene bead monolayer infiltrated with PbS CQDs that displays both near-infrared absorption enhancement and visible transparency enhancement over a homogeneous control film, qualitatively matching predictions and showing promise for optoelectronic applications.

Electrically tunable robust edge states in graphene-based topological photonic crystal slabs

Topological photonic crystals are optical structures supporting topologically protected unidirectional edge states that exhibit robustness against defects. Here, we propose a graphene-based all-dielectric photonic crystal slab structure that supports two-dimensionally confined topological edge states. These topological edge states can be confined in the out-of-plane direction by two parallel graphene sheets. In the structure, the excitation frequency range of topological edge states can be dynamically and continuously tuned by varying bias voltage across the two parallel graphene sheets. Utilizing this kind of architecture, we construct Z-shaped channels to realize topological edge transmission with diffrerent frequencies. The proposal provides a new degree of freedom to dynamically control topological edge states and potential applications for robust integrated photonic devices and optical communication systems.

Integrated Optical Modulator Based on Transition between Photonic Bands

An area efficient novel optical modulator with low operation voltage is designed based on integrated Mach-Zehnder Interferometer with a photonic crystal slab structure as the phase shifter. Plasma dispersion effect is utilized so that photonic band-to-band transition occurs at the operating frequency leading to a high index change (Δn = ~4) for π-phase shift on the modulator. This approach reduces the phase shifter length to a few micrometers (~5 µm) in a silicon on insulator platform and operating voltage required is around 1 V. Low voltage together with short optical interaction length decrease optical losses and power consumption during modulation process providing a great opportunity for size and system cost optimization.

Realization of a complementary medium using dielectric photonic crystals.

By exploiting the scaling invariance of photonic band diagrams, a complementary photonic crystal slab structure is realized by stacking two uniformly scaled double-zero-index dielectric photonic crystal slabs together. The space cancellation effect in complementary photonic crystals is demonstrated in both numerical simulations and microwave experiments. The refractive index dispersion of double-zero-index dielectric photonic crystal is experimentally measured. Using pure dielectrics, our photonic crystal structure will be an ideal platform to explore various intriguing properties related to a complementary medium.

Mid-infrared T-shaped photonic crystal waveguide for optical refractive index sensing

In this paper, we propose and design a new type of an integrated optical sensor that performs sensing in a wide wavelength range corresponding to mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectrum. By engineering the structural parameters of square-lattice photonic crystal (PC) slab incorporated with a T-shaped air-slot, strong light confinement and interaction with the analytes are assured. Numerical analyses in the time and frequency domain are conducted to determine the structural parameters of the design. The direct interaction between the slot waveguide mode and the analyte infiltrated into the slot gives rise to highly sensitive refractive index sensors. The highest sensitivity of the proposed T-slotted PC sensor is 1040nm/RIU within the range of analytes’ refractive indices n=1.05–1.10, and the overall sensitivity corresponding to the higher refractive index range of n=1.10–1.30 is around 500nm/RIU. Moreover, for a realistic PC slab structure, we determined an average refractive index sensitivity of 530nm/RIU within the range of n=1.10–1.25 and an average sensitivity of 390nm/RIU within the range of n=1.00–1.30. Furthermore, we speculate on the possible approach for the fabrication and the optical characterization of the device. The assets of the device include being compact, having a feasible measurement and fabrication technique, and possessing label-free sensing characteristic. We expect that the presented work may lead to the further development of the mid-IR label-free biochemical sensor devices for detection of various materials and gases in the near future.

Oxide-cladding aluminum nitride photonic crystal slab: Design and investigation of material dispersion and fabrication induced disorder

Photonic crystal slabs with a lower-index material surrounding the core layer are an attractive choice to circumvent the drawbacks in the fabrication of membranes suspended in air. In this work we propose a photonic crystal (PhC) slab structure composed of a triangular pattern of air holes in a multilayer thin film of aluminum nitride embedded in silicon dioxide layers designed for operating around 450 nm wavelengths. We show the design of an ideal structure and analyze the effects of material dispersion based on a first-order correction perturbation theory approach using dielectric functions obtained by experimental measurements of the thin film materials. Numerical methods were used to investigate the effects of fabrication induced disorder of typical nanofabrication processes on the bandgap size and spectral response of the proposed device. Deviation in holes radii and positions were introduced in the proposed PhC slab model with a Gaussian distribution profile. Impacts of slope in holes sidewalls that might result from the dry etching of AlN were also evaluated. The results show that for operation at the midgap frequency, slope in holes sidewalls is more critical than displacements in holes sizes and positions.

Effects of location and polarization of a dipole source on the excitation of a photonic crystal H1 cavity

The integration of photonic crystal cavity with quantum dot paves the way for photonic-based quantum information processing. Photonic crystal cavity has a high-quality factor and small mode volume, which can be utilized to enhance the interaction between light and matter. Two degenerate fundamental modes with orthogonal polarizations exist in photonic crystal H1 cavity. Entangled photon pairs can be generated with a single quantum dot coupled to degenerate H1 cavity modes. Therefore a coupling system comprised of quantum dot and photonic crystal H1 cavity is a promising platform to implement quantum information processing. The excitations of cavity modes are mostly affected by the location of the single quantum dot, namely a dipole source. For the two degenerate photonic crystal H1 cavity modes, the location of the dipole source determines which mode is excited. In this paper, the effects of location and polarization of a dipole source on the excitation of photonic crystal H1 cavity are investigated with the finite-difference time-domain method, a numerical analysis technique for computing the electrodynamics. We first design a photonic crystal slab structure patterned with hexagonal lattice of air holes. Combining the light modulation by the period lattice in the slab plane and the total internal reflection in the perpendicular direction, photonic bandgap is generated, which inhibits the propagation of photon with certain frequencies. By removing one of the air holes from the photonic crystal slab, an H1 cavity is formed with two degenerate fundamental modes. One mode is x-polarized, and the other one is y-polarized. Next, a dipole source is used to excite the H1 cavity modes. When the dipole source is located at the left to the H1 cavity center, only y-polarized mode is excited. While locating the dipole source above the H1 cavity center, only x-polarized mode is excited. Therefore each degenerate mode of H1 cavity can be selectively excited with the diploe source located at different positions in the cavity. Following that, the H1 cavity modes excited with the dipole sources with different polarizations are also studied. The x-polarized dipole source can only excite the cavity mode with x-polarization, while the y-polarized dipole source can only excite the y-polarized cavity mode accordingly. It can be seen that the dipole source with specific polarization can only excite the modes with corresponding polarization. The effects of location and polarization of a dipole source on the excitation of a photonic crystal H1 cavity are important for understanding the fundamental physics of entangled photon generation with a coupled quantum dot and photonic crystal system.