[신간의 별자리x] 우리/미술, 그리고 ‘슬픔의 박물관’

The term photonic crystals appears because of the analogy between electron waves in crystals and the light waves in artificial periodic dielectric structures. During the recent years the investigation of one-, two-and three-dimensional periodic structures has attracted a widespread attention of the world optics community because of great potentiality of such structures in advanced applied optical fields. The interest in periodic structures has been stimulated by the fast development of semiconductor technology that now allows the fabrication of artificial structures, whose period is comparable with the wavelength of light in the visible and infrared ranges.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/6354/16969/00781867.pdf

Photonic crystals

Slow light with a remarkably low group velocity is a promising solution for buffering and time-domain processing of optical signals. It also offers the possibility for spatial compression of optical energy and the enhancement of linear and nonlinear optical effects. Photonic-crystal devices are especially attractive for generating slow light, as they are compatible with on-chip integration and room-temperature operation, and can offer wide-bandwidth and dispersion-free propagation. Here the background theory, recent experimental demonstrations and progress towards tunable slow-light structures based on photonic-band engineering are reviewed. Practical issues related to real devices and their applications are also discussed. The unique properties of wide-bandwidth and dispersion-free propagation in photonic-crystal devices have made them a good candidate for slow-light generation. This article gives the background theory of slow light, as well as an overview of recent experimental demonstrations based on photonic-band engineering.

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Slow light in photonic crystals

High-index-contrast, wavelength-scale structures are key to ultracompact integration of photonic integrated circuits. The fabrication of these nanophotonic structures in silicon-on-insulator using complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor processing techniques, including deep ultraviolet lithography, was studied. It is concluded that this technology is capable of commercially manufacturing nanophotonic integrated circuits. The possibilities of photonic wires and photonic-crystal waveguides for photonic integration are compared. It is shown that, with similar fabrication techniques, photonic wires perform at least an order of magnitude better than photonic-crystal waveguides with respect to propagation losses. Measurements indicate propagation losses as low as 0.24 dB/mm for photonic wires but 7.5 dB/mm for photonic-crystal waveguides.

Nanophotonic waveguides in silicon-on-insulator fabricated with CMOS technology

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We demonstrated a novel two-dimensional photonic crystal (PC) based Symmetric Mach Zehnder type all-optical switch (PC-SMZ) with InAs quantum dots (QDs) acting as a nonlinear phase-shift source. The 600- ?m-long PC-SMZ having integrated wavelength-selective PC-based directional couplers and other PC components exhibited a 15-ps-wide switching-window with 2-ps rise/fall time at a wavelength of 1.3 ?m. Nonlinear optical phase shift in the 500-?m-long straight PC waveguide was also achieved at sufficiently low optical-energy (e.g., ??phase shift at ~100-fJ control-pulse energy) due to the small saturation energy density of the QDs, which is enhanced in the PC waveguide, without using conventional measures such as SOAs with current-injected gain. The results pave the way to novel PC- and QD-based photonic integrated circuits including multiple PC-SMZs and other novel functional devices.

Ultra-fast photonic crystal/quantum dot alloptical switch for future photonic networks.

Straight single-line-defect photonic crystal (PC) waveguides on GaAs slabs with lengths of 1, 4, and 10 mm have been fabricated. By controlling the Al content of a sacrificial AlGaAs clad layer and the wet etching duration, a PC core layer with a very smooth surface was obtained. Atomic force microscope images indicate that the roughness on the top surface is less than 1 nm. An extremely low propagation loss of 0.76 dB/mm for the GaAs-based PC waveguide was achieved.

Low propagation loss of 0.76 dB/mm in GaAs-based single-line-defect two-dimensional photonic crystal slab waveguides up to 1 cm in length

A directional coupler (DC) with a coupling-strength control defect (CCD) based on a two-dimensional photonic-crystal slab waveguide is numerically and experimentally studied. The structure consists of two parallel-coupled single-defect waveguides separated by a triple-line air-hole array, with some missing air holes in the middle of the triple line. Using a two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method, a 50% coupler was designed and almost 50% coupling performance was experimentally confirmed at a wavelength of ∼1.3 μm with a coupling length of about 7 μm, about 1/3 in length as compared to the DC without the CCD.

Design, fabrication, and characterization of coupling-strength-controlled directional coupler based on two-dimensional photonic-crystal slab waveguides

The authors observed self-phase modulation in spectral domain at 1.50μm in AlxGa1−xAs-based photonic-crystal-slab line-defect waveguides. Adopting a sample with x=0.18 has enabled the authors to avoid two-photon absorption, causing undesirable free-carrier-induced refractive-index change. Variation of the observed spectrum with input pulse peak power is well reproduced by theoretical simulation. They find that a 1.6ps light pulse of 2.5pJ suffices for causing a phase shift of π in a 1mm long sample owing to tight light confinement and nonlinear refractive index n2 due to instantaneous optical Kerr effect is (3.8±1.2)×10−13cm2∕W. A possibility of developing ultrafast all-optical switch due to n2 is discussed

Self-phase modulation in photonic-crystal-slab line-defect waveguides

We have observed laser action from optically-pumped InAs-quantum-dots embedded in a line-defect waveguide in an air-bridge type GaAs-photonic-crystal slab (an array of air-holes). The lasing is found to occur without any optical cavity such as a set of Fabry-Perot mirrors. Comparison of the observed transmittance spectrum with the calculated band dispersion of the W3 defect-mode enables us to specify the lasing wavelength as that at the band edge. From this fact it follows that distributed feedback mechanism at the band edge with a vanishingly small group-velocity should be responsible for the present lasing. Usefulness of this kind of compact laser in a future ultrafast planar photonic integrated circuit is discussed.

Yu Tanaka

Papers

Ultra-fast photonic crystal/quantum dot alloptical switch for future photonic networks.

Low propagation loss of 0.76 dB/mm in GaAs-based single-line-defect two-dimensional photonic crystal slab waveguides up to 1 cm in length

Design, fabrication, and characterization of coupling-strength-controlled directional coupler based on two-dimensional photonic-crystal slab waveguides

Self-phase modulation in photonic-crystal-slab line-defect waveguides

InAs quantum-dot laser utilizing GaAs photonic-crystal line-defect waveguide.