Photonic crystal waveguides and nanocavities

Two-dimensional photonic crystals embedded in planar waveguides, or photonic crystal slabs, are very suited for the control of light propagation and emission in three dimensions. Confinement in the 2D plane is achieved by the 2D PhC structure, while confinement in the vertical direction is provided by total internal reflection in the high-index slab. A line defect in a 2D PhC slab yields a linear photonic crystal waveguide, while a point defect in a PhC slab behaves as a photonic crystal nanocavity with full 3D confinement.

Our experimental research has been devoted to measurement of photonic band and waveguide mode dispersion by angle-resolved reflectance and attenuated total reflectance with incidence from the PhC slab surface. For examples, we have measured the dispersion of normal W1 waveguides (a missing row of holes in the triangular lattice) and of increased-width waveguides both above and below the light line. Nonlinear optical spectroscopy of III-V and silicon-based photonic crystal waveguides has also been performed. More recently, we have applied the technique of cross-polarized light scattering (also known as resonant scattering) to measure the frequencies and polarization of nano-cavity modes. The effects of random and intentional disorder on linear waveguides and cavity modes are also being studied.

Participants:

L.C. Andreani, D. Bajoni, M. Belotti, M. Galli, D. Gerace, G. Guizzetti, A.M. Malvezzi, M. Patrini, S. Portalupi

Collaborations:

School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, U.K.

Laboratoire de Photonique et de Nanostructures, CNRS, Marcoussis, France

Istituto de Microelectronica de Madrid, IMM-CSIC, Spain

European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS) and University of Florence, Italy

Silicon Photonics Group, Physics Department, University of Trento

Materials and Processes for Micro & Nano Technologies, Politechnic of Turin

LILIT@ELETTRA Nanolithography Beamline, TASC Laboratory, Trieste

Projects:

MIUR Cofin 2004 "Silicon-based photonic crystals for the control of light propagation and emission"

MIUR-FIRB 2003-2005 "Miniaturized systems for electronics and photonics"

INFM PRA 2002 "GaAs-based photonic crystals: fabrication, optical properties and theory"

MIUR Cofin 2002 "Silicon-based photonic crystals: technology, optical properties and theory"

PhD Theses:

D. Bajoni, "Optical Spectroscopy of Photonic Crystals and Microcavities" (University of Pavia, 2004)

G. Vecchi, "Nonlinear Optics in Photonic Crystals" (University of Pavia, 2005)

Key publications:

Far-field emission profiles from L3 photonic crystal cavity modes,

C. Bonato, J. Hagemeier, D. Gerace, S. M. Thon, H. Kim, L. C. Andreani, P. M. Petroff, M. P. van Exter, D. Bouwmeester,

Photonics and Nanostructures Fundam. Appl. 11, 37 - 47 (2013). PDF

Nonlinear optics in silicon photonic crystal nanocavities,

L. C. Andreani, P. Andrich, M. Galli, D. Gerace, L. O'Faolain, and T. F. Krauss, in

"Optical Properties of Photonic Structures: Interplay of Order and Disorder", by M. F. Limonov and R. M. De La Rue, ISBN 9781439871911, pp. 361-378 (Taylor & Francis - CRC Press, 2012).

Antibonding ground state in photonic crystal molecules,

N. Caselli, F. Intonti, F. Riboli, A. Vinattieri, D. Gerace, L. Balet, L. H. Li, M. Francardi, A. Gerardino, A. Fiore, and M. Gurioli,

Physical Review B 86, 035133 (2012). PDF

Young's type interference for probing the mode symmetry in photonic structures,

F. Intonti, F. Riboli, N. Caselli, M. Abbarchi, S. Vignolini, D. S. Wiersma, A. Vinattieri, D. Gerace, L. Balet, L. H. Li, M. Francardi, A. Gerardino, A. Fiore, and M. Gurioli

Physical Review Letters 106, 143901 (2011). PDF

Low-power continuous-wave generation of visible harmonics in silicon photonic crystal nanocavities,

M. Galli, D. Gerace, K. Welna, T. F. Krauss, L. O'Faolain, G. Guizzetti, and L. C. Andreani,

Optics Express 18, 16613-16624 (2010). PDF - Spotlight on Optics (December 2010).

Planar photonic crystal cavities with far-field optimization for high coupling efficiency and quality factor,

S. L. Portalupi, M. Galli, C. Reardon, T. F. Krauss, L. O'Faolain, L. C. Andreani, and D. Gerace,

Optics Express 18, 16064-16073 (2010). PDF - Spotlight on Optics (July 2010).

Light scattering and Fano resonances in high-Q photonic crystal Nanocavities,

M. Galli, S.L. Portalupi, M. Belotti, L.C. Andreani, L. O’Faolain, and T.F. Krauss,

Appl. Phys. Lett. 94, 071101 (2009). PDF

Theoretical and experimental study of the Suzuki-phase photonic crystal lattice by angle-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy,

A.R. Alija, L.J. Martínez, P.A. Postigo, J. Sánchez-Dehesa, M. Galli, A. Politi, M. Patrini, L.C. Andreani, C. Seassal, and P. Viktorovitch,

Opt. Express 15, 704-713 (2007). PDF

Enhanced third-harmonic reflection and diffraction in Silicon on Insulator photonic waveguides,

C. Comaschi, G. Vecchi, A.M. Malvezzi, M. Patrini, G. Guizzetti, M. Liscidini, L.C. Andreani, D. Peyrade, and Y. Chen,

Appl. Phys. B 81, 305-311 (2005). PDF

Single-mode versus multimode behavior in silicon photonic crystal waveguides measured by attenuated total reflectance,

M. Galli, D. Bajoni, M. Patrini, G. Guizzetti, D. Gerace, L.C. Andreani, M. Belotti, and Y. Chen,

Phys. Rev. B 72, 125322 (2005). PDF

Excitation of radiative and evanescent defect modes in linear photonic crystal waveguides,

M. Galli, M. Belotti, D. Bajoni, M. Patrini, G. Guizzetti, D. Gerace, M. Agio, L.C. Andreani, and Y. Chen,

Phys. Rev. B 70, 081307(R) (2004). PDF

Photonic bands in patterned Silicon on Insulator waveguides,

M. Patrini, M. Galli, F. Marabelli, M. Agio, L. C. Andreani, D. Peyrade and Y.Chen,

IEEE J. Quantum Electronics 38, 885 (2002)

(feature issue on Photonic Crystals, edited by T.F. Krauss and T. Baba).