Majd Zoorob

Complete photonic bandgaps in 12-fold symmetric quasicrystals

Photonic crystals are attracting current interest for a variety of reasons, such as their ability to inhibit the spontaneous emission of light. This and related properties arise from the formation of photonic bandgaps, whereby multiple scattering of photons by lattices of periodically varying refractive indices acts to prevent the propagation of electromagnetic waves having certain wavelengths. One route to forming photonic crystals is to etch two-dimensional periodic lattices of vertical air holes into dielectric slab waveguides. Such structures can show complete photonic bandgaps, but only for large-diameter air holes in materials of high refractive index (such as gallium arsenide, n = 3.69), which unfortunately leads to significantly reduced optical transmission when combined with optical fibres of low refractive index. It has been suggested that quasicrystalline (rather than periodic) lattices can also possess photonic bandgaps. Here we demonstrate this concept experimentally and show that it enables complete photonic bandgaps—non-directional and for any polarization—to be realized with small air holes in silicon nitride (n = 2.02), and even glass (n = 1.45). These properties make photonic quasicrystals promising for application in a range of optical devices.

Tuning localized plasmons in nanostructured substrates for surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Reflectivity measurements of gold nanostructures graded in pitch and aperture size allow investigation of localized plasmons. A simple model confirmed by simulations explains the plasmon resonances. Such arrays are highly suitable Raman scattering substrates.

Visible-wavelength super-refraction in photonic crystal superprisms

We demonstrate the fabrication of superprism devices in photonic crystal waveguides with excellent transmission through 600 rows of 160nm diameter holes. Broadband spectral and angular measurements allow mapping of the chromatic refractivity. This shows the ability of such devices to super-refract by more than 1°/nm close to the principal band gaps,10× more than equivalent gratings, and 100× more than equivalent prisms. Simple theories based on plane-wave models give excellent agreement with these results.

Experimental investigation of photonic crystal waveguide devices and line-defect waveguide bends

Photonic crystal waveguide devices incorporating line-defect waveguide bends have been fabricated. In this paper we present preliminary experimental analysis of these structures. Although evidence of photonic band-gap effects are observed in the spectra, transmission efficiency was found to be extremely low due to significant up-scattering losses from the holes. In order to quantify this loss mechanism, a detailed experimental and theoretical analysis of scattering effects in regular photonic crystal waveguide devices with band gaps at visible wavelength is presented. Field profiles in line defect structures are analysed using a FDTD (finite difference time domain) method.

Separation of Photonic Crystal Waveguides Modes using Femtosecond Time-of-Flight

We demonstrate that ultrabroadband ultrashort-pulse white light supercontinua can be used to track the group velocity of photons in optical waveguides using a Kerr gate technique. Results on silicon nitride slab waveguides show both polarization birefringence and multimode dispersion, which vanish at critical wavelengths. When photonic crystals are embedded in the waveguides, the higher order modes are excited within the band-gap region, demonstrating the need to control their dispersion to make effective use of photonic crystal waveguide devices.

Complete and absolute photonic bandgaps in highly symmetric photonic quasicrystals embedded in low refractive index materials

It is firmly established that periodic lattice structures can support photonic bandgaps (PBG). However, complete and absolute photonic bandgaps (CAPBG) have only been achieved in high dielectric constant mediums such as GaAs (e=13.6). An artificial quasiperiodic photonic crystal based on the random square-triangle tiling system was designed and fabricated. The photonic quasicrystal possesses 12-fold symmetry and was analysed using a finite difference time domain (FDTD) approach. High orders of symmetry in photonic quasicrystals have been shown to provide isotropic bandgaps across all the directions of propagation of light. As an outcome of these properties, this new class of photonic quasicrystal has been shown, for the first time, to possess a secondary non-directional CAPBG for a relatively low index material, silicon nitride (e=4.08). These materials are compatible with integrated optical technologies. This allows the fabrication of efficient integrated optical PBG devices such as WDM filters and multiplexers to become a real possibility.

Enhanced Light Extraction by Photonic Quasi-Crystals in GaN Blue LEDs

The far-field profile of photonic quasi-crystal patterned and unpatterned LEDs, fabricated from commercial epitaxial substrates by electron beam lithography, has been measured prior to lapping and dicing. Emission enhancements reach a maximum of 62%, and are strongly dependent on the filling factor. Qualitative agreement is achieved between 2-D finite-difference time-domain calculations and the experimental data.

Recent developments in the design and fabrication of visible photonic band gap waveguide devices.

In this paper, we present the design, fabrication and initial optical testing of dielectric waveguide devices which incorporate photonic crystals with photonic band gaps (PBG) in the visible region of the spectrum. In the design of our devices we use a full three-dimensional plane wave analysis to solve the photonic band structure simultaneously with the dielectric waveguide boundary conditions for a fixed lattice and waveguide geometry. This takes into account the finite thickness of the waveguide core, and the evanescent wave in the dielectric cladding layers. Furthermore, we explain how the effective Bloch mode index can be extracted from the results. This enables us to tackle important problems associated with mode coupling between the input waveguide and guided Bloch modes within the porous PBG region, such as Fresnel reflections at the interface and up-scattering from the holes. Finally, we present the recent fabrication of quasi-periodic photonic crystals and PBG waveguide bends.

Highly engineered mesoporous structures for optical processing

Arranging periodic, or quasi-periodic, regions of differing refractive index in one, two, or three dimensions can form a unique class of mesoporous structures. These structures are generally known as photonic crystals, or photonic quasicrystals, and they are the optical analogue of semiconducting materials. Whereas a semiconductors band structure arises from the interaction of electron or hole waves with an arrangement of ion cores, the photonic crystal band structure results from the interaction of light waves with an arrangement of regions of differing refractive index. What makes photonic crystals highly attractive to the optical engineer is that we can actually place the regions of differing refractive index in a pattern specifically tailored to produce a given optical function, such as an extremely high dispersion, for example. That is, we can define the geometrical arrangement of the dielectric foam to provide us with the form of band structure we require for our optical functionality. In this paper, the optical properties and applications of these highly engineered mesoporous dielectrics will be discussed.

design and simulation of highly symmetric photonic quasi-crystals

A novel method for designing photonic crystals with high orders of rotational symmetry using an inverse Fourier transform (IFT) method is presented. The IFT of an n-sided polygon is taken and the positions of the peaks are computed in order to obtain a set of discrete points in real space where the scattering centres are to be located. We show, by simulating the diffraction pattern, that although these points appear disordered they possess long range order, which also confirms that the arrangement of points has n-fold rotational symmetry. The designed structures can possess an arbitrary number of rotational symmetries, whilst retaining the sharp diffraction patterns characteristic of known crystal lattices which exhibit wide bandgaps. We present simulation results using the finite difference time domain method (FDTDM) for large non-repeating patterns of scatterers produced by this method. We also present results where around 50 points have been generated in a square unit cell and tiled to produce a lattice. These were simulated using both the finite element method (FEM) and the FDTDM, which were shown to agree. Our results demonstrate that the method is capable of producing crystal structures with wide bandgaps where the scattering centres are either non-repeating with no fundamental unit cell, or consist of a (large) number of points in a unit cell, which may then be tiled to form a lattice