Tuning of narrow-bandwidth photonic crystal devices etched in InGaAsP planar waveguides by liquid crystal infiltration

Abstract

Photonic crystal (PC) devices in the InP/InGaAsP/InP planar waveguide system exhibiting narrow bandwidth features were investigated for use as ultrasmall and tunable building blocks for photonic integrated circuits at the telecom wavelength of 1.55 μm. The H1 cavity, consisting of a single PC-hole left unetched, represents the smallest possible cavity in a dielectric material. The tuning of this cavity by temperature was investigated under the conditions as etched and after the holes were infiltrated with liquid crystal (LC), thus separating the contributions of host semiconductor and LC-infill. The shift and tuning by temperature of the MiniStopBand (MSB) in a W3 waveguide, consisting of three rows of holes left unetched, was observed after infiltrating the PC with LC. The samples finally underwent a third processing step of local wet underetching the PC to leave an InGaAsP membrane structure, which was optically assessed through the ridge waveguides that remained after the under etch and by SNOM-probing.