1

Photonic Crystals – it’s all about the mirrors

Maksim Skorobogatiy

Canada Research Chair in

Photonic Band Gap materials and devices

I would like to thank Prof. Yoel Fink fiber research group at

MIT, and Prof. Steven Johnson at MIT for their contributions.
2 Periodic electromagnetic media

Low index of
refraction

High index of
refraction

3D photonic crystal
3 Plane-waves in a uniform dielectric

/n

E n
 
 Energy flux ~ E  H
H
  
i ( k r t )
E, H ~ e
 2n
k  n / c 

4 Scattering regimes

a>> incoherent scattering

a a~ coherent scattering

a
a<<
averaging

Photonic crystals
5 Photonic Crystals
Periodic electromagnetic media

1887 1987
2-D 3-D

1-D

1977
p eriodic in periodic in periodic in
one directio n two directions three direction s

quazi-1D quazi-2D
Bragg fibers microstructured fibers
6 Photonic Crystals Components

periodic electromagnetic media with defects

can
3D Ph otrap
to n iclight
C rystain
l wcavities
ith De fe c ts and waveguides (“wires”)
7 1D Photonic Crystal

1 -D
8 Uniform dielectric
(transverse wavevector)
   
i ( k r t )
kt E, H ~ e
k
(preferred direction)
 (propagation constant) n
 2n
k  n / c  Our first band diagram
 
light cone light propagation
c c
   kt 
2 2

n n light line:
=c/n
 n 
2

kt      2

 c  no light propagation, kt is IMAGINARY


9 Two uniform dielectrics (intuitive picture)

k 1t 
k2 n1

<
  n2
q2
k1 k 2t


 ni 
2
light cone
k    
i 2
t
 c 
c light line 1:

sin q i 
light line 2:
 = c  / n1  = c  / n2

ni no light propagation in dielectrics 1,2


10 A quest for a perfect mirror

Reflectance
1
As index
contrast Dielectric mirror, low loss,
increase TE but strong angular and
n1  n2 2 polarization dependence
n1  n2 2 TM

As index
contrast
increase
q1
0 tan-1(n2/n1) 90o Metallic mirror, low angular
and polarization
Reflectance is getting more uniform for dependence, but very high
all polarizations and wider region of loss for optical frequencies
angles as index contrast increases
 Projected Bands of a 1d Crystal
11 (a.k.a. a Bragg mirror)


Quaterwave stack condition
d1n1=d2n2=/4
d1 n1
d2 n2
 conserved
1d band gap TM

modes TE
Light in the multilayer
in crystal

propagation 
perpendicular to the layers
12 Omnidirectional Reflection
[ J. N. Winn et al, Opt. Lett. 23, 1573 (1998) ]

Air 
 conserved

TM
in these  ranges, there is no overlap
between modes of air & crystal
modes TE
all incident light in crystal
(any angle, polarization)
is reflected
from flat surface 
needs: sufficient index contrast & nhi > nlo > 1
13 Omnidirectional Mirrors in Practice
[ Y. Fink et al, Science 282, 1679 (1998) ]

Te / polystyrene
contours of omnidirectional gap size 10 0

3 normal
50
50%
2.8
0
40% 10 0
2.6
450 s

Re flec ta nc e (%)
(%)
50
2.4 30%
0
2.2

Reflectance
10 0
20%
2 450 p
50
10%
1.8
0
0%
10 0
1.6

D/mid 50
800 s
1.4
0
1.2
10 0

1 800 p
50
1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2
0
Smaller index, n 1
6 9 12 15

Wavelength (microns)