Giant field localization in 2-D photonic crystal cavities with defect resonances: Bringing nonlinear optics to the W/cm2 level

Abstract

We investigate the field localization properties in a 2-D photonic crystal cavity with defect resonances. Although based on a simple geometry, these resonances achieve extremely high quality (Q)-factors ∼108. We provide an example of a chalcogenide glass (As2S3) photonic crystal cavity where all-optical switching at telecommunication wavelengths can be obtained for input intensity ∼W/cm2 and local field intensity in the crystal well below the photodarkening threshold of the material.