Resonant Grating Research Articles

Wide-angle transmissive filter based on a guided-mode resonant grating

A wide-angle color filter for TE-polarization is proposed based on a guided-mode resonant grating selectively coated with a metal film. The effects of the structure parameters to the resonant transmission characteristics are discussed by the rigorous coupled-wave analysis. Its optimal structure was given for a green color filter with a peak transmission of 77.6%, a full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of ~120 nm, and a good angular tolerance up to ±40°. Compared to the similar structure with a nonresonant dielectric grating, it decreases the FWHM effectively for the resonance induced by the guided-mode resonant grating. The numerical results indicate that the designed structure has a good wide-angle transmission performance.

Quasi-fractional Talbot effect of resonant diffraction grating

The Fresnel diffraction of resonant diffraction grating is studied on the basis of the modal method, and it shows that the conventional fractional Talbot effect can still occur by choosing appropriate parameters. The Fresnel diffraction distributions of the resonant diffraction gratings with periods between λ and 4λ are analyzed, and the diffraction fields exhibit periodicity in both grating direction and the propagating direction. The experiment is carried out to verify the simulation results of the quasi-fractional Talbot effect of the resonant diffraction grating. This effect has potential application in lithography for high-resolution patterning.

Replicable one-dimensional non-polarizing guided mode resonance gratings under normal incidence

Polarization-insensitive guided-mode resonance (GMR) filters have significant role in applications such as optical communication systems. Here, we report the design and fabrication of two types of simple-structured one-dimensional (1D) GMR gratings with non-polarizing resonance properties under normal incidence. A single-layer rectangular-profile TiO2 grating is fabricated by electron beam lithography and reactive ion etching, which demonstrates, for the first time in experiment, almost perfect non-polarizing filtering effect with 1D grating under normal incidence. Then, a TiO2-coated polycarbonate 1D GMR grating is fabricated by nanoimprinting and atomic layer deposition, which also exhibits good non-polarizing property and the potential of low-cost mass replication of such functional devices.

Bypassing and cutting through 1D photonic crystals by ultra-shallow wet-etched resonant gratings

The electromagnetic field in subwavelength resonant diffractive optical elements is so concentrated that a very shallow surface corrugation obtained by wet chemical micro–nano-etching is sufficient to give rise to high contrast diffraction effects allowing a high wavelength-, polarization- or transverse-mode-selectivity which is not achievable by conventional diffractive elements. Two examples of polarizing laser mirrors at both extremes of the optical spectrum with wet-etched grating bypassing and cutting through the 1D photonic crystal are demonstrated.

Optical Sensor Based on Vernier-Cascade of Ring Resonator and Echelle Diffraction Grating

An optical sensor based on the Vernier-cascade of a ring resonator and an echelle diffraction grating (EDG) demultiplexer is proposed and analyzed. Due to the difference between the free spectral range of the ring and the channel spacing of the EDG demultiplexer, the refractive index change of the analyte fluid on the ring can be detected by the power distribution among the channels of the EDG. By combining a coarse measurement and a fine measurement, a refractive index sensitivity in the order of 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-6</sup> RIU can be achieved. An optical sensor system can be realized by using a low-cost broadband light source and a detector array.

On the ability of resonant diffraction gratings to differentiate a pulsed optical signal

The passage of an optical pulse through a resonant grating is considered. The conditions under which the resonant grating differentiates the envelope of the incident pulse are determined. It is shown that the necessary condition for computing the k-order derivative is the presence of k resonances in the transmission spectrum of the grating in the vicinity of the central frequency of the incident pulse. A method is described for constructing the stacked structure for computing the kth derivative on the basis of repetition of the structure for computing the first derivative. The results of numerical simulation of diffraction of the pulse from the analyzed structure for computing the first, second, and third derivative are presented.

Tuned Pressure Sensitivity of Dual Resonant Long-Period Gratings Written in Boron Co-Doped Optical Fiber

This paper presents a pressure sensor based on a long-period grating (LPG) written in boron co-doped photosensitive fiber and operating at the phase-matching turning point. It is shown that the pressure sensitivity can be tuned by varying the UV exposure time during the LPG fabrication process as well as by varying ambient temperature during pressure measurements. The achieved pressure sensitivity in certain pressure range can reach over 1 nm·bar- 1, and is at least four times higher than for previously presented gratings working away from the double-resonance regime. In terms of an intensity-based measurement, the sensitivity at the turning point can reach 0.212 dB ·bar - 1.

Application of Optical Biosensors in Small-Molecule Screening Activities

The last two decades have seen remarkable progress and improvements in optical biosensor systems such that those are currently seen as an important and value-adding component of modern drug screening activities. In particular the introduction of microplate-based biosensor systems holds the promise to match the required throughput without compromising on data quality thus representing a sought-after complement to traditional fluidic systems. This article aims to highlight the application of the two most prominent optical biosensor technologies, namely surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and optical waveguide grating (OWG), in small-molecule screening and will present, review and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different assay formats on these platforms. A particular focus will be on the specific advantages of the inhibition in solution assay (ISA) format in contrast to traditional direct binding assays (DBA). Furthermore we will discuss different application areas for both fluidic as well as plate-based biosensor systems by considering the individual strength of the platforms.

Integration of optical pulses by resonant diffraction gratings

The possibility of integrating optical pulses by resonant diffraction gratings has been considered. It has been shown that a diffraction grating provides integration of the pulse envelope in the vicinity of quasiguided-mode resonances. The integration is performed with an exponential weight function, whose decay rate is deter-mined by the quality factor of the resonance. Metallic diffraction gratings for integration of picosecond pulses have been computed. The calculation of the grating eigenmodes with the use of the scattering-matrix method has shown that the integration is performed in the vicinity of the resonances corresponding to the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons at the grating boundary. According to the results of numerical simulation, the integration quality is quite high.

Cylindrical Resonator Utilizing a Curved Resonant Grating as a Cavity Wall

A thin-film grating on a curved substrate functions as a highly reflective and wavelength sensitive mirror for a diverging wave that has the same curvature as the substrate. In this paper we propose a cylindrical cavity surrounded by a curved resonant grating wall, and describe its resonance characteristics. Through finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation we have clarified that this type of cavity supports two resonance modes: one is confined by Fresnel reflection and the other by resonance reflection of the wall. We have also demonstrated that the latter mode exhibits a Q factor several orders of magnitude higher than that of the former mode.

Boosting optical nonlinearities inε-near-zero plasmonic channels

The anomalous transmission properties of zero-permittivity ultranarrow channels are used to boost Kerr nonlinearities and achieve switching and bistable response for moderate optical intensities. Strong field enhancement, uniform all along the channel, is a typical feature of \ensuremath{\epsilon}-near-zero supercoupling and is shown to be particularly suited to enhance nonlinear effects. This is obtained by designing narrow apertures at cutoff in a plasmonic screen. We show that this nonlinear mechanism can significantly outperform nonlinearities in traditional Fabry-P\'erot resonant gratings.

Coherence–polarization mixing in resonance gratings

We show, using rigorous diffraction theory, that resonance gratings can be used to transfer partial spatial correlation to partial polarization even if the incident light beam is fully polarized. The phenomenon is based on the fact that either of the two orthogonal polarization components can be coupled into the leaky waveguide mode, leading to a strong phase delay, while the other one is reflected without being coupled into the grating. Numerical demonstrations are based on a Gaussian Schell-model beam and a grating analysis performed by rigorous Fourier modal method.

“Peak tracking chip” for label-free optical detection of bio-molecular interaction and bulk sensing

A novel imaging method for bulk refractive index sensing or label-free bio-molecular interaction sensing is presented. This method is based on specially designed "Peak tracking chip" (PTC) involving "tracks" of adjacent resonant waveguide gratings (RWG) "micropads" with slowly evolving resonance position. Using a simple camera the spatial information robustly retrieves the diffraction efficiency, which in turn transduces either the refractive index of the liquids on the tracks or the effective thickness of an immobilized biological layer. Our intrinsically multiplex chip combines tunability and versatility advantages of dielectric guided wave biochips without the need of costly hyperspectral instrumentation. The current success of surface plasmon imaging techniques suggests that our chip proposal could leverage an untapped potential to routinely extend such techniques in a convenient and sturdy optical configuration toward, for instance for large analytes detection. PTC design and fabrication are discussed with challenging process to control micropads properties by varying their period (step of 2 nm) or their duty cycle through the groove width (steps of 4 nm). Through monochromatic imaging of our PTC, we present experimental demonstration of bulk index sensing on the range [1.33-1.47] and of surface biomolecule detection of molecular weight 30 kDa in aqueous solution using different surface densities. A sensitivity of the order of 10(-5) RIU for bulk detection and a sensitivity of the order of ∼10 pg mm(-2) for label-free surface detection are expected, therefore opening a large range of application of our chip based imaging technique. Exploiting and chip design, we expect as well our chip to open new direction for multispectral studies through imaging.

Wide band polarizer with suspended germanium resonant grating

An ultra broad band polarizer that operates in the telecommunication wavelength band is proposed. This device, which consists of a single suspended germanium resonant grating layer, is designed using the inverse mathematical method and the rigorous vector diffraction theory. Calculated results indicate that the ultra broad band polarizer exhibits extremely high reflection (R>99%) for TE polarization light and high transmission (T>99%) for TM polarization at the wavelength range greater than 300 nm, and it has an extinction ratio of approximately 1 000 at the 1 550-nm central wavelength. The results of the rigorous coupled wave analysis indicate that the extremely wide band property of the TE polarization is caused by the excitation of strong modulation guided modes in the design wavelength range.

Optimally designed narrowband guided-mode resonance reflectance filters for mid-infrared spectroscopy

An alternative to the well-established Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometry, termed discrete frequency infrared (DFIR) spectrometry, has recently been proposed. This approach uses narrowband mid-infrared reflectance filters based on guided-mode resonance (GMR) in waveguide gratings, but filters designed and fabricated have not attained the spectral selectivity (≤ 32 cm−1) commonly employed for measurements of condensed matter using FT-IR spectroscopy. With the incorporation of dispersion and optical absorption of materials, we present here optimal design of double-layer surface-relief silicon nitride-based GMR filters in the mid-IR for various narrow bandwidths below 32 cm−1. Both shift of the filter resonance wavelengths arising from the dispersion effect and reduction of peak reflection efficiency and electric field enhancement due to the absorption effect show that the optical characteristics of materials must be taken into consideration rigorously for accurate design of narrowband GMR filters. By incorporating considerations for background reflections, the optimally designed GMR filters can have bandwidth narrower than the designed filter by the antireflection equivalence method based on the same index modulation magnitude, without sacrificing low sideband reflections near resonance. The reported work will enable use of GMR filters-based instrumentation for common measurements of condensed matter, including tissues and polymer samples.

Bragg Gratings in All-Solid Bragg Photonic Crystal Fiber Written With Femtosecond Pulses

Bragg gratings were fabricated in all-solid Bragg photonic crystal fibers with 100 fs, 800 nm infrared radiations and a phase mask. Both multimode and single-mode grating resonances were achieved by accurately adjusting the focal position of the irradiation beam in the Bragg fiber. Thermal annealing investigations indicated that the gratings were induced by Type I-IR and Type II-IR refractive index change. Typical Bragg wavelength shifted with the change of temperature and strain, which were measured respectively.

Enhancement of optical processes in coupled plasmonic nanocavities [Invited

We present detailed experimental and numerical investigations of resonances in deep nanogroove gratings in metallic substrates. These plasmonic nanocavity gratings feature enhanced fields within the grooves that enable a large enhancement of linear and nonlinear optical processes. This enhancement relies on both localized and propagating surface plasmons on the nanopatterned surface. We show that the efficiency of optical processes such as Raman scattering and four-wave mixing is dramatically enhanced by plasmonic nanocavity gratings.

Modelling of a diode laser with a resonant grating of quantum wells and an external mirror

A three-dimensional numerical model of a diode laser with a resonant grating of quantum wells (QWs) and an external mirror is developed and used to calculate diode laser pulses that are long compared to the time of reaching a stationary regime and are short enough to neglect heating of the medium. The consistent solutions of the Helmholtz field equation and the system of diffusion equations for inversion in each QW are found. A source of charge carriers can be both an electron beam and a pump laser beam. The calculations yielded the longitudinal and radial profiles of the generatedfield, as well as its wavelength and power. The effective threshold pump current is determined. In the created iteration algorithm, the calculation time linearly increases with the number of QWs, which allows one to find the characteristics of lasers with a large number of QWs. The output powers and beam divergence angles of a cylindrical laser are calculated for different cavity lengths and pump spot radii. After calculating the fundamental mode characteristics, high-order modes were additionally calculated on the background of the frozen carrier distributions in the QW grating. It is shown that all the competing modes remain below the excitation threshold for the pump powers used in the experiment. The calculated and experimental data for the case of pumping by a nanosecond electron beam are qualitatively compared.

Temporal differentiation of optical signals using resonant gratings

We study theoretically the possibility of performing temporal differentiation of optical signals using a resonant diffraction grating. We demonstrate that the resonant grating allows the calculation of the first-order derivative of an optical signal envelope in the vicinity of waveguide resonant frequencies in the zeroth transmitted diffraction order. The grating is shown to allow the calculation of the fractional derivative of order 1/2 in the vicinity of Rayleigh-Wood anomalies. Numerical simulations based on the rigorous coupled-wave analysis of Maxwell's equations demonstrate the high-quality differentiation of optical signals with temporal features in the picosecond range.

Analysis of Guided-mode Resonant Grating Filters by Using a Rigorous Coupled-wave Method

Analysis of Guided-mode Resonant Grating Filters by Using a Rigorous Coupled-wave Method