An optical microcavity based on pillar arrays has been fabricated in Si/SiO(2) material system. Transmission measurement was taken and a quality factor as high as 27,600 was observed. This cavity was tested for sensing applications by immersing into optical fluids with accurate refractive indices. For refractive index change of 0.01, a resonance peak wavelength shift of 3.5 nm was measured. We also compare cavities consisting of pillars with different aspect ratios.

Experimental results are presented for a high quality factor cavity based on pillar arrays. The cavity is formed from a square lattice of silicon pillars of finite height. The quality factor of the fundamental mode is about 7300 when the cavity is in air and 7800 when it is immersed in water. Since a pillar array has a large percent of connected void space and confines TM modes effectively, it has great promise for use in numerous areas including biochemical sensing and quantum cascade lasers.

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We report on the observation of discrete diffraction in surface plasmon polariton waveguide arrays at a wavelength of 1550 nm. We also adopt the effective index method to reduce our simulation geometry to two-dimensions, predict the spread of single-waveguide excitation in parallel waveguide arrays, and explore changing the excitation angle to detune the waveguides. Our experimental results show discrete diffraction compensation at an angle of 2.2 degrees as predicted by simulations.