Optical properties of three-dimensional photonic crystals based on III–V semiconductors at infrared to near-infrared wavelengths

Abstract

The optical properties of three-dimensional photonic crystals based on III–V semiconductors are investigated. The crystals are constructed by stacking GaAs (or InP) stripes with a wafer-fusion technique to form an asymmetric face-centered-cubic structure. It is shown that a crystal with eight-stacked layers (two units), whose period is 4 μm, has a considerable band-gap effect (∼30 dB attenuation) in the transmission spectrum at infrared wavelengths (5–10 μm), and the band gap is observed independently of the incident angles. Then, a crystal with four-stacked layers with a submicron period is constructed, and a clear band gap (attenuation up to 10 dB) is successfully observed at near-infrared wavelengths (1–1.5 μm).

Fragility of photonic band gaps in inverse-opal photonic crystals

“…[1][2][3] A three-dimensional ͑3D͒ photonic crystal with a full band gap in the visible and infrared regimes provides the most stirring potential in application. Recently, the fabrication of 3D photonic crystals of micrometer size have been demonstrated 5,6 using a layer-by-layer growth scheme 7 that employs state-of-the-art microlithography techniques, however it still remains a difficult and challenging task. Another routine that is in rapid progress is the self-arrangement of colloid, related artificial opals, and inverse-opal techniques.…”

“…In the scheme of layer-by-layer growth, [5][6][7] the crystal opens a large full band gap between the second and third photonic bands, a ground band gap. Although significant nonuniformities will occur in the growth process with current techniques for submicrometer-sized structures, the band gap is fairly robust to such nonuniformities according to recent numerical simulations.…”

Diffractive hygrochromic effect in the cuticle of the hercules beetleDynastes hercules

“…The separation between the vertical columns is not much larger than the separation between the horizontal filamentary layers, so that this criss-crossed structure should be classified as a 3D photonic crystal, if the disorder is put aside. The characteristic of this structure is that the empty region is singly connected, as in artificial structures like the woodpile photonic crystal [27,28], or in other natural structures like the tree-like shaped ridges of the Morpho butterfly [29]. The structure's fully connected empty space will propagate water if the material surface (columns and filaments) is reasonably hydrophilic.…”

Spontaneous emission in two-dimensional photonic crystal microcavities

“…These field distributions for the electric field are derived from the numerically calculated solutions for the magnetic field using the usual relation (12) With the formulation (11), the position-dependent density of states (4) may be written (13) The usual density of states may, correspondingly, be written (14) In-plane photonic bandgaps can be defined using the in-plane density of states, which correspond to (14), where only the -vectors with no component normal to the plane are summed over, i.e.,…”

“…Recently, 3-D periodic structures with photonic bandgaps at optical and near-infrared wavelengths have been successfully demonstrated [11], [12]. The fabrication of 3-D periodic structures with bandgaps at optical frequencies is, however, very difficult by today's technology.…”