Bound modes of two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguides

Abstract

It is now widely recognised that a volume of dielectric material with an appropriately designed periodic microstructure — a photonic crystal — will support a full three-dimensional photonic band gap (PBG). Over the frequency range spanned by the PBG, all electromagnetic modes are suppressed within the volume, allowing a single resonance (or photonic state) to be introduced by means of a structural point defect. This unique ability to tamper strongly with the electromagnetic mode density enables the channelling of spontaneous emission into one or a few electromagnetic modes, and is attractive for enhancing the emission rate from light emitting diodes, and in achieving low threshold highly efficient operation in micro-cavity lasers.
Although photonic crystals with full PBGs at optical frequencies seem set to have a revolutionary impact in optoelectronics, they are not yet available, largely because the technological demands on nanofabrication challenge the current limits of the state-of-the-art. As several groups have realised, however, it is less demanding to produce two-dimensional periodic patterns in thin film form (see Figure I), and thus — perhaps — to achieve a full PBG in two dimensions. One important potential application of such photonic crystal waveguides is in the suppression of lateral emission in arrays of closely spaced vertical cavity emitting lasers.

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