We design a photonic crystal (PhC) lens whose focal length is highly tunable based on the frequency sensitive super-collimation (FSSC) phenomenon. Theoretically, an analytic expression of the focal length in PhCs is derived. The diffraction could be dramatically changed by modest change in refractive index of the dielectric rods in PhCs, because the sensitivity of the equi-frequency-contours around FSSC to refractive index is several orders larger than that in common bulk material. Numerically, we demonstrate that focal length can be nearly one order larger with only 0.2% refractive index change, from 28a (a is lattice constant) to 240a. With its micro-size, high sensitivity and feasibility by on-chip technology, such tunable lens has great potentials in modern optical systems.

We have studied a femtosecond (fs) ultrafast all-optical photonic crystal (PhC) switch, and a new dynamic mechanism of the interplay between nonlinearity and Bragg scattering is revealed. Almost all phenomena observed in the experiments are reproduced in our numerical simulations. Completely different from the traditional band-gap shift mechanism, we propose a new dynamic mechanism that can explain the considerable increase of transmission and almost all other complex transmission behaviors of the switch. First, the fs-level ultrashort-lifetime nonlinearity generated by the fs pumping pulse, which cannot generate a band-gap shift, only causes a sudden phase change on the signal field that is still inside the PhC. Second, such a phase change can partially destroy the destructive interference of Bragg scattering, which is the physical reason for the low transmission in the photonic gap of the PhC. The study by Fourier transform of the temporally transmitted field can clearly support our new explanation. New phenomena, such as the larger than unity sum of transmission and reflection, are predicted. The new dynamic mechanism could be widely used in other systems as a new method to amplify nonlinear effects, or as a detector for ultrafast (femto- or attosecond) electronic processes.

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This paper presents a two-dimensional infinite dipole array system with a mushroom-like high-impedance surface (HIS) ground plane with wide-angle scanning capability in the E-plane. The unit cell of the proposed antenna array consists of a dipole antenna and a four-by-four HIS ground. The simulation results show that the proposed antenna array can achieve a wide scanning angle of up to 65 • in the E-plane with an excellent impedance match and a small S11. Floquet mode analysis is utilized to analyze the active impedance and the reflection coefficient. Good agreement is obtained between the theoretical results and the simulations. Using numerical and theoretical analyses, we reveal the mechanism of such excellent wide scanning properties. For the range of small scanning angles, these excellent properties result mainly from the special reflection phase of the HIS ground, which can cause the mutual coupling between the elements of the real array to be compensated by the mutual coupling effect between the real array and the mirror array. For the range of large scanning angles, since the surface wave (SW) mode could be resonantly excited by a high-order Floquet mode TM−1,0 from the array and since the SW mode could be converted into a leaky wave (LW) mode by the scattering of the array, the radiation field from the LW mode is nearly in phase with the direct radiating field from the array. Therefore, with help from the special reflection phase of the HIS and the designed LW mode of the HIS ground, the antenna array with an HIS ground can achieve wide-angle scanning performance.

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