Photonic Crystal

1. INTRODUCTION

Photonic crystals are periodic dielectric structures that are designed to form the
energy band structure for photons, which either allows or forbids the propagation of
electromagnetic waves of certain frequency ranges, making them ideal for light-
harvesting applications

Photonic crystals are periodically structured electromagnetic media. Generally

possessing photonic band gaps; Ranges of frequency in which light – cannot propagate
through the structure. This periodicity whose length scale is proportional to the
wavelength of light in the band gap. Is the electromagnetic analogue of a crystalline
atomic lattice. Where the latter acts on the electron wave function to produce the
familiar band gaps. Semiconductors and so on of solid-state of physics. The study of
photonic crystal in the optical properties of periodic structures can be observed
throughout the natural world. From the changing colors of an opal held up to the light
to the patterns on a butterfly wings. Nature has been Explore photonic crystals for
millions of years but humans have only recently started to realize their potential

Photonic crystals are composed of periodic Dielectric or even superconductor

microstructures or nanostructures that affect electromagnetic wave propagation in the
same way that the periodic potential in a semiconductor crystal affects electron motion
by diffining allowed and forbidden electronic energy. Band photonic crystals contain
regularly repeating regions of low dielectric constant. Photons either propagate
through this structure or not depending on their wave length. Wave length that
propagate are called modes and groups of allowed modes from bands. Disallowed
bands of wavelength are called photonic band gapes this gives rise to distinct optical
phenomena such as inhabitation of spontaneous emission.

The periodicity of the photonic crystal structure must be around of the

wavelength of the electromagnetic wave to be diffracted the band gaps of the photonic
crystals can be understood to arise from the light propagating of the crystal

Band gaps in periodic materials were already well understood from solid-state
physics, where the presence of electronic band gaps in semiconductors has
revolutionised electronics.

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 Photonic Crystal

Many of the concepts from solid-state research have been carried over to
photonic crystals including the notation and nomenclature, and perhaps this is what has
allowed the field to make such rapid progress in less than twenty years.

Electromagnetic wave propagation in periodic media was first studied by Lord

Rayleigh in 1887, in connection with the peculiar reflective properties of a crystalline
mineral with periodic “twinning” planes (across which the dielectric tensor undergoes
a mirror flip). These correspond to one-dimensional photonic crystals, and he identified
the fact that they have a narrow band gap prohibiting light propagation through the
planes. This band gap is angle-dependent, due to the differing periodicities experienced
by light propagating at non-normal incidences, producing a reflected color that varies
sharply with angle. Although multilayer films received intensive study over the
following century, it was not until 100 years later, when Yablonovitch and John in
1987 joined the tools of classical electromagnetism and solid-state physics, that the
concepts of omnidirectional photonic band gaps in two and three dimensions was
introduced. This generalization, which inspired the name “photonic crystal,” led to
many subsequent developments in their fabrication, theory, and application, from
integrated optics to negative refraction to optical fibers that guide light in air.

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 Photonic Crystal

2. HISTORY

Photonic crystal have been studied in one form or another since 1887. But no
one used the term phonic crystal until over 100 years later after eleyablonovitch and
Sajeev John published. To milestone papers on phonic crystals in 1987. The early
history is well documented in the form of a story when it was identified as one of the
landmark development in physics by the American physical society. Before 1987 one
dimensional photonic crystal in the form of periodic multilayer dielectric stacks (such
as the bragg mirror) were studied extensively.

Lord Raleigh started they study in 1887 by showing that such systems have a
one dimensional photonic band gap a spectral range of large reflectivity. Known as a
stop’ band. A detailed theoretical study of one-dimensional optical structures was
performed by Vladimir P. Bykov who was the first to investigate effect of a photonic
band -gap on the spontaneous emission. From atoms and molecules embedded within
the photonic structure. The concept of three -dimensional photonic crystals was then
discussed by Ohtaka in 1979. Who also developed a formalism for the calculation of
the photonic band structure. However. This ideas did not take off until after the
publication off to milestone papers in the 1987. By Yablonovitch and john both this
papers concerned. High-dimensional periodic optical structure i.e. photonic crystals.

John’s ideas was to use photonic crystals affect localization and control. Of
lighter after 1987 The number of research papers concerning photonic crystal began to
grow exponentially, however due to the difficulty of Fabricating this structure at
optical scales. see fabrication challenges. Early studies were either theoretical or in the
microwave regime. Where photonic crystal can be built on the more accessible
centimeter scale.

After 1987, the number of research papers concerning photonic crystals began
to grow exponentially. However, due to the difficulty of fabricating these structures at
optical scales (see Fabrication challenges), early studies were either theoretical or in
the microwave regime, where photonic crystals can be built on the more accessible
centimetre scale. (This fact is due to a property of the electromagnetic fields known as
scale invariance. In essence, electromagnetic fields, as the solutions to Maxwell's

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 Photonic Crystal

equations, have no natural length scale—so solutions for centimetre scale structure at
microwave frequencies are the same as for nanometre scale structures at optical
frequencies.)

By 1991, Yablonovitch had demonstrated the first three-dimensional photonic

band-gap in the microwave regime. The structure that Yablonovitch was able to
produce involved drilling an array of holes in a transparent material, where the holes of
each layer form an inverse diamond structure – today it is known as Yablonovite.

In 1996, Thomas Krauss demonstrated a two-dimensional photonic crystal at

optical wavelengths. This opened the way to fabricate photonic crystals in
semiconductor materials by borrowing methods from the semiconductor industry.

Today, such techniques use photonic crystal slabs, which are two dimensional
photonic crystals "etched" into slabs of semiconductor. Total internal reflection
confines light to the slab, and allows photonic crystal effects, such as engineering
photonic dispersion in the slab. Researchers around the world are looking for ways to
use photonic crystal slabs in integrated computer chips, to improve optical processing
of communications—both on-chip and between chips.[citation needed]

Such techniques have yet to mature into commercial applications, but two-
dimensional photonic crystals are commercially used in photonic crystal fibres
(otherwise known as holey fibres, because of the air holes that run through them).
Photonic crystal fibres were first developed by Philip Russell in 1998, and can be
designed to possess enhanced properties over (normal) optical fibres.

Study has proceeded more slowly in three-dimensional than in two-

dimensional photonic crystals. This is because of more difficult fabrication. Three-
dimensional photonic crystal fabrication had no inheritable semiconductor industry
techniques to draw on. Attempts have been made, however, to adapt some of the same
techniques, and quite advanced examples have been demonstrated, for example in the
construction of "woodpile" structures constructed on a planar layer-by-layer basis.
Another strand of research has tried to construct three-dimensional photonic structures
from self-assembly—essentially letting a mixture of dielectric nano-spheres settle from
solution into three-dimensionally periodic structures that have photonic band-gaps.

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 Photonic Crystal

Vasily Astratov's group from the Ioffe Institute realized in 1995 that natural and
synthetic opals are photonic crystals with an incomplete bandgap. The first
demonstration of an "inverse opal" structure with a complete photonic bandgap came
in 2000, from researchers at the University of Toronto, Canada, and Institute of
Materials Science of Madrid (ICMM-CSIC), Spain. The ever-expanding field of
biomimetics—the study of natural structures to better understand and use them in
design—is also helping researchers in photonic crystals. For example, in 2006 a
naturally occurring photonic crystal was discovered in the scales of a Brazilian beetle.
Analogously, in 2012 a diamond crystal structure was found in a weevil and a gyroid-
type architecture in a butterfly.

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 Photonic Crystal

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Dept. of Physics, DVS College of Arts and Science, Shivamogga Page No. 6
 Photonic Crystal

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 Photonic Crystal

4. CONSTRUCTION STRATEGIES

4.1 One-Dimensional Photonic Crystals

Although the term photonic crystal (PhC) is relatively recent, simple one-
dimensional (1D) PhCs in the form of periodic dielectric stacks have been used for
considerably longer. Their wavelength-selective reflection properties see them used in
a widerange of applications including high-efficiency mirrors, Fabry-P´erot cavities,
optical filters and distributed feedback lasers. As illustrated in Fig. 4.1, the simplest
PhC is an alternating stack of two different dielectric materials. When light is incident
onsuch a stack, each interface reflects some of the field. If the thickness of each layer
ischosen appropriately, the reflected fields can combine in phase, resulting in
constructive interference and strong reflectance, also known as Bragg reflection.

In contrast to two- and three-dimensional PhCs, 1D Bragg reflection occurs

regardless of the index contrast, although a large number of periods is required to
achieve a high reflectance if the contrast is small. Since the absorption in dielectric
optical materials is verylow, mirrors made from dielectric stacks are extremely
efficient, and can be designed to reflect almost 100% of the incident light within a
small range of frequencies. Themain limitation of these dielectric mirrors is that they
only operate for a limited rangeof angles close to normal incidence.

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 Photonic Crystal

Another, more recent application of 1D PhCs is the fibre Bragg grating (FBG),
in which the refractive index of the fibre core is varied periodically along its axis,
typically approximating a sinusoidal profile. This case is somewhat more complex
because the

Figure 4.1: Schematic of a one-dimensional photonic crystal consisting of a periodic

stack of dielectric layers with period refractive index varies continuously, rather than
discretely, as in the previous example,but the properties are essentially the same. The
main difference is that the refractive index contrast in the FBG is so small (∆n ≤ 0.5%)
that the operational bandwidth is very narrow and thousands of periods are typically
required to obtain the desired reflectance properties. FBGs are now an integral part of
fibre optic systems, being used in dispersion compensation, filters, and a wide range of
other applications.

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 Photonic Crystal

4.2 Two-Dimensional Photonic Crystals

Both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) PhCs can be thought

of as generalisations to the 1D case where a full 2D or 3D bandgap appears only if the
1DBragg reflection condition is satisfied simultaneously for all propagation directions
in which the structure is periodic. For most 2D periodic lattices this occurs providing
theindex contrast is sufficiently large, but for 3D structures only certain lattice
geometries display the necessary properties, and only then for large enough index
contrasts.The 3D case is discussed in more detail .Instead of a stack of uniform
dielectric layers, 2D PhCs typically consist of an ray of dielectric cylinders
inhomogeneous dielectric background material, as illustrated in Fig. 4.2, although
there are many other possible geometries. If the refractive index contrast between the
cylinders and the background is sufficiently large, 2D bandgaps can.

Occur for propagation in the plane of periodicity — perpendicular to the rods.

Light at a frequency within the bandgap experiences Bragg reflection in all directions
due to the periodic array of cylinders. However, as in the 1D case where light could
still propagation two-dimensions, in a 2D PhC propagation can still occur in the non-
periodic direction,parallel to the cylinders. Thus, an alternative means of confinement
is required in the third dimension to avoid excessive losses due to diffraction and
scattering. This issue is discussed further in As in semiconductor devices, much of the
interest in photonic crystals arises.

From the presence of a bandgap alone, but rather from the ability to create
localised defect states within the bandgap by introducing a structural defect into an
otherwise regular lattice. For example, the removal of a single cylinder from a 2D
PhCcreatesa point-like defect or resonant cavity, and the removal of a line of cylinders
can create a waveguide that supports propagating modes. Many potential applications
based onthis concept have been proposed and demonstrated, a number of which are
discussedin more detail in.

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 Photonic Crystal

Figure 4.2: (a) Schematic of a 2D hole-type PhC slab consisting of low refractive
index cylinders in a high-index slab. (b) Scanning electron microscope (SEM) imageof
a fabricated hole-type PhC in a silicon slab . (c) Schematic of a 2Drod-type PhC
consisting of high refractive index cylinders in a low-index background.(d) SEM
image of a fabricated rod-type PhC formed from GaAs rods on a low-indexaluminium
oxide layer

A second class of 2D PhC applications exploits the unique properties of the

propa-gating modes that exist outside the bandgaps in defect-free PhCs. The discrete
transla-tional symmetry of PhCs imposes strict phase conditions on the field
distributions that they support. As a result, only a discrete number of modes are
supported for any given frequency and light propagating in these Bloch modes can
have very different proper-ties to light in a homogeneous medium.

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 Photonic Crystal

4.3 Three-dimensional photonic crystals

Three-dimensional PhCs have proved to be the most challenging PhC

structures to fabricate. Where as 2D PhC research has gained significant benefit from
well-established 1D PhC thin-film and semiconductor processing technology such as
plasma deposition and electron-beam lithography, fabrication of 3D PhCs has required
the development of entirely new techniques. For this reason, it was more than three
years after theinitial proposal for 3D band gap materials. before a structure was
calculated to exhibit a bandgap for all directions and all polarizations. The design
consisted of dielectric spheres positioned at the vertices of a diamond lattice. This
followed experimental reports the previous year in which a partial bandgap in face-
centred-cubic (FCC) lattice of spheres was mistakenly identified as a complete
bandgap.This latter result highlighted the requirement for rigorous theoretical and
computational tools capable of dealing with high-index contrast dielectrics.Since these
early studies. a wide range of 3D PhC geometries exhibiting complete bandgaps have
been demonstrated both in theory and experiment. As an example, a3D “woodpile”
PhC is shown in Fig. 4.3. Due to the challenges involved in fabricating high-quality
structures with features on the scale of optical wavelengths, early photonic.crystal
experiments were performed at microwave and mid-infrared frequencies.

With the improvement of fabrication and materials processing methods,

smaller structures have become feasible, and in 1999 the first 3D PhC with a bandgap
at telecommunications frequencies was reported.Since then, various lattice geometries
have been reported for operation at similar frequencies.

Wave guiding and the introduction of intentional defects in 3D PhCs has not
pro-gressed as rapidly as in 2D PhCs, largely due to the fabrication difficulties and the
more complex geometry required to achieve 3D bandgaps. Theoretical studies have
demon-strated the potential for novel photonic circuit , but to date only a few
experimental results have been reported. Although much of the recent interest in PhCs
has focused on telecommunication related applications, the original concept of
controlling spontaneous emission has not been forgotten. Recent experiments have

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 Photonic Crystal

demonstrated both inhibition and enhancement of spontaneous emission from quantum

dots.

Embedded in both in 2D and 3D PhCs. The presence of a photonic bandgap at

black-body radiation frequencies has also been shown to modify the thermal emission
properties of heated tungsten 3D PhCs

3D PhCs formed in low-index contrast materials such as silica or polymer are

also potentially useful for applications. where a com-plete bandgap is not required.
Superprism effects have been calculated in 3D polymerPhCs andanable bandgap
effects have also been demonstrated using both non-linear and liquid crystal tuning.

Figure 4.3: An example of a 3D PhC woodpile structure known to exhibit a full

photonic bandgap. Schematic of an ideal woodpile PhC. SEM image of a real 3D
woodpile structure fabricated in silicon

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 Photonic Crystal

4.4 Band structure and Bloch modes of 2D photonic crystals:-

The remainder of this thesis is concerned with 2D PhCs and their application to
optical processing and photonic integrated circuits. In this section we review the
properties of the 2D band structure and associated Bloch modes of uniform PhC
lattices. A truly 2D PhC is invariant in the direction parallel to the cylinder axis, and
thus has cylin-ders of infinite length. For a rigorous analysis of such a structure, the
out-of-plane wave vector component must be included in a full 3D calculation, but this
can be impractical for large structures given the computational demands of 3D
calculations.

In a 2D calculation only in-plane propagation is considered, but there are some

simple modifications that can be made to correct partially for out-of-plane wave vector
components. Although real PhC structures have finite-length cylinders and usually rely
on a slab wave guide geometry to prevent out-of-plane losses, the underlying physics
is the same, and significant insight can be obtained by considering the ideal case.
Unless otherwise stated, the structures studied throughout this thesis are treated as 2D
and the light is taken to be propagating in the plane of the PhC. The implications of
this approximation are discussed in general terms in and more specifically in the
chapters relating to each of the devices.

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 Photonic Crystal

5. FABRICATION CHALLENGES:

Higher-dimensional photonic crystal fabrication faces two major challenges:

Making them with enough precision to prevent scattering losses blurring the
crystal properties

Designing processes that can robustly mass-produce the crystals one promising
fabrication method for two-dimensionally periodic photonic crystals is a photonic-
crystal fiber, such as a holey fiber. Using fiber draw techniques developed for
communications fiber it meets these two requirements, and photonic crystal fibres are
commercially available.

Another promising method for developing two-dimensional photonic crystals

is the so-called photonic crystal slab. These structures consist of a slab of material such
as siliconthat can be patterned using techniques from the semiconductor industry. Such
chips offer the potential to combine photonic processing with electronic processing on
a single chip.

For three dimensional photonic crystals, various techniques have been

usedincluding photolithography and etching techniques similar to those used for
integrated circuits. Some of these techniques are already commercially available. To
avoid the complex machinery of nano technological methods, some alternate
approaches involve growing photonic crystals from colloidal crystals as self-assembled
structures.

Mass-scale 3D photonic crystal films and fibres can now be produced using a
shear-assembly technique that stacks 200–300 nm colloidal polymer spheres into
perfect films of fcc lattice. Because the particles have a softer transparent rubber
coating, the films can be stretched and molded, tuning the photonic bandgaps and
producing striking structural color effects.

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 Photonic Crystal

5.1 Materials Fabricated by Micro and Nano particle: -

We classify the strategies for colloidal assembly and review the diverse
potential applications of micro and nano particle structures in materials and device
proto types. The useful properties of the particle assemblies, such as high surface to
volume ratio, periodicity at mesoscale, large packing density, and long range ordering,
can be harnessed in optical, electronic, and biosensing devices. We discuss the present
and future trends in the colloidal assembly field, focusing on the challenges of
developing fabrication procedures that are rapid and efficiently controlled. We
speculate on how the issues of scalability, control, and precision could be addressed,
and how the functionality of the assemblies can be increased to better match the needs
of technology.

5.2 Embedded cavities and waveguides in three-dimensional silicon

photonic crystals:-

To fulfil the promise that complete-photonic-bandgap materials hold for

optoelectronics applications, the incorporation of three-dimensionally engineered
defects must be realized. Previous attempts to create and characterize such defects
were limited because of fabrication challenges. Here we report the optical and
structural characterization of complex sub micrometre features of unprecedented
quality within silicon inverse opals. High-resolution three-dimensional features are
first formed within a silica colloidal crystal by means of two-photon polymerization,
followed by a high-index replication step and removal of the opal template to yield
embedded defects in three-dimensional silicon photonic crystals. We demonstrate the
coupling of bandgap frequencies to resonant modes in planar optical cavities and the
first waveguiding of near-infrared light around sharp bends in a complete-photonic-
bandgap material.

5.3 Photonic crystals: putting a new twist on light :-

Photonic crystals are materials patterned with a periodicity in dielectric

constant, which can create a range of'forbidden'frequencies called a photonic bandgap.
Photons with energies lying in the bandgap cannot propagate through the medium.

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 Photonic Crystal

This provides the opportunity to shape and mould the flow of light for photonic
information technology

5.4 Flow-controlled vertical deposition method for the fabrication of

photonic crystals :-

Photonic crystals are an emerging family of optical materials that manipulate

the behavior of photons in much the same way as crystalline semiconductors do for
electrons. they are envisioned to play a vital role in tomorrow’s photonic technology.
Presently, one of the challenges in photonic technology is fabrication of three
dimensional (3D) photonic crystals with a complete photonic band gap at the
wavelength scale of visible light. Lithography and micromachining have proven
successful. However, these conventional techniques have trouble producing thick 3D
structures. Recently, self-assembly has been explored and demonstrated as a simple
and inexpensive approach to the fabrication of 3D photonic crystals. In this method,
the growth of highly ordered colloidal arrays in large domains without the presence of
defects is extremely important. Up to now, a number of techniques such as
gravitational sedimentation, vertical deposition (VD), emulsion crystallization, and
the Langmuir-Blogett (LB) method have been demonstrated to grow colloidal crystals
for photonic applications. Among them, the VD method has gained a great deal of
attention. In this method, a substrate is placed vertically in a colloidal suspension.
With the evaporation of the solvent, the liquid surface moves down and a thin layer of
colloidal particles forms on the substrate. Although this method has been proven
workable for the growth of colloidal crystals, there are a number of problems such as
lack of uniformity of the deposited film along the solvent-evaporation direction and
inefficiency in the assembly of large colloidal spheres. In the past few years, some
improvements on the method have been described.

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 Photonic Crystal

6. COMPUTING PHOTONIC BAND STRUCTURE

The photonic band gap (PBG) is essentially the gap between the air-line and
the dielectric-line in the dispersion relation of the PBG system. To design photonic
crystal systems, it is essential to engineer the location and size of the bandgap by
computational modeling using any of the following methods:

Construction of the Band Diagram

Essentially, these methods solve for the frequencies (normal modes) of the
photonic crystal for each value of the propagation direction given by the wave vector,
or vice versa. The various lines in the band structure, correspond to the different cases
of n, the band index. For an introduction to photonic band structure,

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 Photonic Crystal

The plane wave expansion method can be used to calculate the band structure
using an eigen formulation of the Maxwell's equations, and thus solving for the eigen
frequencies for each of the propagation directions, of the wave vectors. It directly
solves for the dispersion diagram. Electric field strength values can also be calculated
over the spatial domain of the problem using the eigen vectors of the same problem.
For the picture shown to the right, corresponds to the band-structure of a 1D
distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) with air-core interleaved with a dielectric material
of relative permittivity 12.25, and a lattice period to air-core thickness ratio (d/a) of
0.8, is solved using 101 planewaves over the first irreducible Brillouin zone.

To speed calculation of the frequency band structure, the Reduced Bloch

Mode Expansion (RBME) method can be used. The RBME method applies "on top" of
any of the primary expansion methods mentioned above. For large unit cell models,
the RBME method can reduce time for computing the band structure by up to two
orders of magnitude.

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 Photonic Crystal

6.1 Properties of Photonic Band Gap Materials:-

Since the invention of the laser, the field of photonics has progressed through
the development of engineered materials, which mold the flow of light. Photonic band
gap (PBG) materials are a new class of dielectrics, which are the photonic analogues of
semiconductors. The photonic band gap is equivalent to a frequency interval over
which the linear electromagnetic propagation effects have been turned off.Unlike
semiconductors, which facilitate the coherent propagation of electrons, PBG materials
facilitate the coherent localization of photons. Applications include zero-threshold
micro-lasers with high modulation speed and low threshold optical switches and
alloptical transistors for optical telecommunications and high-speed optical computers.
In a PBG, lasing can occur with zero pumping threshold. Lasing can also occur
without mirrors and without a cavity mode since each atom creates its own localized
photon mode. This suggests that large arrays of nearly lossless microlasers for all
optical circuits can be fabricated with PBG materials. Near a photonic band edge, the
photon density of states exhibits singularities, which cause collective light emission to
take place at a much faster rate than in ordinary vacuum. Microlasers operating near a
photonic band edge will exhibit ultrafast modulation and switching speeds for
application in high-speed datatransfer and computing. Applications such as
telecommunications, data transfer, and computing will be greatly enhanced through
all-optical processing in which bits of information, encoded in the form of a photon
number distribution, can be transmitted and processed without conversion to and from
electrical signals. The PBG material provides dopant atoms with a high degree of
protection from damping effects of spontaneous emission and dipole dephasing. In this
case, the two-level atom may act as a two-level quantum mechanical register or single
photon logic gate for all optical quantum computing.

A collaboration between researchers in Germany, the US, and Greece has led
to the development of a new way to fabricate photonic crystal. The technique, based
on the LIGA process, has produced lattices made up of cylinders that are just a few
tens of microns across. These structures are made of ceramics; more recently, attempts
have been made to use both ceramics and metals. Researchers have concluded that the
latter materials should be useful for high-quality bandpass filters.

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 Photonic Crystal

Photonic crystals that operate in the visible spectrum have been generated via a
technique that is intrinsically fast and, if some materials issues can be resolved, it can
be relatively inexpensive. Researchers at the University of Oxford have used
holography to create three-dimensional molds that, once inverted by being filled with
high-index materials and the original structure scrapped, have a photonic bandgap
useful for some optoelectronic devices. Though the method has not yet been perfected,
researchers are hopeful that holographic fabrication, with its inherent flexibility, will
make the use of photonic crystals more practical. This work was carried out in
Oxford's physics and chemistry departments and led by Andrew Turberfield and Bob
Denning.

Scientists at Sandia have devised the first 3D photonic crystal operating at a

wavelength of 1.5micron (the all- important preferred wavelength for light traveling in
optical fibers). Repeatedly layering and etching films of different dielectric constants
has led to the fabrication of the vertical topology of the structure. For one layer of the
photonic crystal, first SiO2 is deposited, masked and then etched to achieve the desired
depth. The resulting "trenches" are filled with polycrystalline silicon. In the last
process step, the surface is polished. Then the entire process is repeated in order to
obtain multilayers. In the final step, the wafer is submerged in an HF/water solution to
removethe SiO2

The smoothness of the PGB crystal is controlled within 1% of the layer

thickness above the wafer. The crystal is cut down to 1 x 1 cm, which corresponds to
2400 rods per layer. The band gap with a 12.5-micrometer wavelength extends over 1
micrometer. With further optimization of the fabrication process, it should be possible
to create a crystal with a difference of 2 in the refractive indices. In this case, layers of
Si3N4 can be used in the photonic crystal. Photonic crystals will be components in
future optical transistors--- by deflecting light, they will be able to act as optical
switches; by trapping light, they will be able to produce optical amplification within
cavities. The crystals will also be part of other optical integrated circuit components
such as low-power nanolasers and waveguides.

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 Photonic Crystal

7. PROPERTIES:-

7.1 FUNDAMENTALS OF OPTICAL PROPERTIES :-

In the world of Physics, the laws that govern the behavior of light are true to
their nature. Among the several that exist, one is the law that describes Reflectivity,
Absorptivity and Transmissivity. Consider a crystal as shown below with a ray of light
incident on it normally from the top by a source of light.As seen from the above figure,
when a ray of light is incident on a slab of material, part of it is reflected back, a part
of it is absorbed and the rest is transmitted through the material.

Figure 7.1 Reflection, Transmission and Absorption caused when a ray of light is
incident on a crystal

7.2 Reflectance:-

It is an abrupt change in the direction of propagation of a wave that strikes the

boundary between different media. At least part of the oncoming wave disturbance

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remains in the same medium. Regular reflection, which follows a simple law, occurs at
plane boundaries. The angle between the direction of motion of the oncoming wave
and a perpendicular to the reflecting surface (angle of incidence) is equal to the angle
between the direction of motion of the reflected wave and a perpendicular (angle of
reflection). Reflection at rough, or irregular, boundary will cause the ray to diffuse.
The reflectivity of a surface material is the fraction of energy of the incoming wave
that is reflected by it.

7.3 Absorptance :-

In wave motion, transfer of energy from wave to matter occurs as the wave
passes through it. The energy of an acoustic, electromagnetic, or other wave is
proportional tothe square of its amplitude i.e. the maximum displacement or movement
of a point on the wave; and, as the wave passes through a substance, its amplitude
steadily decreases. If there is only a small fractional absorption of energy, the medium
is said to be transparent to that particular radiation, but, if all the energy is lost, the
medium is said to be opaque. All known transparent substances show absorption to
some extent. For instance, the ocean appears to be transparent to sun light near the
surface, but it becomes opaque with depth. As radiation passes through matter, it is
absorbed to an extent depending on the nature of the substance and its thickness. A
homogeneous substance of a given thickness may be thought of as consisting of a
number of equally thin layers.Each layer will absorb the same fraction of the energy
that reaches it. The change in energy as the wave passes through a layer is a constant
for a material for a given wavelength and is called its absorption coefficient.

7.4 Transmittance :-

In wave motion, transfer of wave energy through the material occurs i.e., it is
the energy that can be seen emerging from the material when some sort of radiation is
incident on it. Now consider the case when the material surface on which the ray is
incident is not as smooth as above, but is now rough. In this case the above equation
changes slightly to accommodate an effect called diffusion or scattering of light at the
surface of the material.

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 Photonic Crystal

Figure 7.2 Reflection, Absorption and Transmission in case of radiation falling on a

rough surface

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 Photonic Crystal

8. ADVANTAGES

8.1 Diamond Photonics:-

Diamond, a material marvelled for its strength, beauty and perfection, was first
used to polish stone axes in Neolithic times. This most ancient of materials is now
being touted by many as the ideal platform for quantum-age technologies. In this
Review, we describe how the properties of diamond match the requirements of
the'second quantum revolution'. We also discuss recent progress in the development of
diamond—and particularly diamond colourcentres—for transforming quantum
information science into practical quantum information technology.

8.2 Negative refraction without negative index in metallic photonic

crystals :-

It is shown that certain metallic photonic crystals can enable negative refraction
and sub wavelength imaging without relying on a negative effective index. These
metallic structures are very simple in design and appear straight forward for
fabrication. Their unusual electromagnetic response should provide an interesting
comparison with the metallic left-handed materials.

8.3 Graded index photonic crystals :-

We explore two-dimensional triangular lattice photonic crystals composed of

air holes in a dielectric background which are subject to a graded-index distribution
along the direction transverse to the propagation. The proper choice of the parameters
such as the input beam width, gradient coefficient, and the operating frequency allow
the realizations of the focusing (lens) and guiding (waveguide) effects upon which
more complex optical devices such as couplers can be designed. Numerical results
obtained by the finite-difference time-domain and planewave expansion methods
validate the application of Gaussian optics within a range of parameters where close
agreement between them are observed.

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8.4 Superprism phenomena in photonic crystals :-

Extraordinary angle-sensitive light propagation, which we call a superprism

phenomenon, was demonstrated at optical wavelength in photonic crystals with three-
dimensional-periodic structure fabricated on Si substrate. The propagation beam was
swung from− 90 to+ 90 with a slight change in the incident angle within±12. This
effect together with wavelength sensitivity is at least two orders of magnitude stronger
than that of the conventional prism. The incident-angle dependence including negative
refraction and multiple beam branching was interpreted from highly anisotropic
dispersion surfaces derived by photonic band calculation. These phenomena will be
available to fabricate microscale light circuits on with compatible lithography
techniques.

8.5 Complete band gaps in two-dimensional photonic quasicrystals :

We introduce an optimization method to design examples of photonic

quasicrystals with substantial, complete photonic band gaps; that is, a range of
frequencies over which electromagnetic wave propagation is forbidden for all
directions and polarizations. The method can be applied to photonic quasi crystals with
arbitrary rotational symmetry; here, we illustrate the results for fivefold and eightfold
symmetric quasicrystals. The optimized band gaps are highly isotropic, which may
offer advantages over photonic crystals for certain applications.

8.6 Multimodal multiplex spectroscopy using photonic crystals:-

Spatio-spectral transmission patterns induced on low coherence fields by

disordered photonic crystals can be used to construct optical spectrometers.
Experimental results suggest that 1-10 nm resolution multimodal spectrometers for
diffuse source analysis may be constructed using a photonic crystal mounted on a focal
plane array. The relative independence of spatial and spectral modal response in
photonic crystals enables high efficiency spectral analysis of diffuse sources.

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8.7 The advantages of using photonic crystal fibers instead of the conventional
fibers in optical gyroscope

The conventional fibers in optical gyroscope .Two beams are again propagating
through the fiber in opposite directions. The beam travelling against the rotation
experiences a slightly shorter path delay than the other beam. The resulting differential
phase shift is measured through interferometry, thus translating one component of the
angular velocity into a shift of the interference pattern which is measured
photometrically. Photonic crystal fibers present special properties and capabilities that
lead to an outstanding potential for sensing applications according to these features we
can elimination a lot of the problems that exist in the conventional fiber optic
gyroscope and getting better and more accurate results in the same conditions when
using Photonic Crystal Fibers.

8.8 Photonic crystals: putting a new twist on light

Photonic crystals are materials patterned with a periodicity in dielectric

constant, which can create a range of 'forbidden' frequencies called a photonic
bandgap. Photons with energies lying in the band gap cannot propagate through the
medium. This provides the opportunity to shape and mould the flow of light for
photonic information technology.

8.9 Liquid Crystals for Charge Transport, Luminescence, and Photonics

Ordered molecular materials are increasingly used in active electronic and

photonic organic devices. In this progress report we discuss whether the self‐
assembling properties and supramolecular structures of liquid crystals can be tailored
to improve such devices. Recent developments in charge‐transporting and luminescent
liquid crystals are discussed in the context of material requirements for organic light‐
emitting devices, photovoltaics, and thin film transistors. We identify high carrier
mobility, polarized emission, and enhanced output‐coupling as the key advantages of
nematic and smectic liquid crystals for electroluminescence. The formation of
anisotropic polymer networks gives the added benefits of multilayer capability and
photopatternability. The anisotropic transport and high carrier mobilities of columnar
liquid crystals make them promising candidates for photovoltaics and transistors. We

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also outline some of the issues in material design and processing that these
applications demand. The photonic properties of chiral liquid crystals and their use as
mirror‐less lasers are also discussed.

8.10 Linear waveguides in photonic-crystal slabs

Linear waveguides in photonic-crystal slabs, two-dimensionally periodic

dielectric structures of finite height, are fundamentally different from waveguides in
two-dimensional photonic crystals.

The most important distinctions arise from the fact that photonic-crystal slab
waveguides mustbe index-confined in the vertical direction while a band gap confines
them horizontally. We present a systematic analysis of different families of
waveguides in photonic-crystal slabs, and illustrate the considerations that must be
applied to achieve single-mode guided bands in these systems. In this way, the unusual
features of photonic-crystal waveguides can be realized in three dimensions without
the fabrication complexity required by photonic crystals with complete three-
dimensional band gaps.

8.11 Recent advantages of colloidal photonic crystals and their applications for
luminescence enhancement

Control of spontaneous emission is crucial to quantum optics and optical

devices. It is essential for diverse applications ranging from miniature lasers, light-
emitting diodes, and quantum information to solar energy harvesting. Photonic crystals
(PCs) have the capacity to optimize the emission properties of active materials which
provide an efficient strategy to construct highly efficient lighting devices, low-
threshold lasers, sensitive fluorescent sensors, and so on. Colloidal photonic crystals
(CPCs) are close-packed ordered arrays self-assembled from monodispersed colloid
spheres. The self-assembled CPCs have great advantages of low cost, flexibility, and
easy processability which show great potential for create captivating and diverse
photonic structures for new photonic materials and devices. Here, we summarize the
recent advantages of the CPC fabrication and its superior capacity for luminescence
enhancement. Based on the current research studies, we offer a perspective on how to
make full use of the advantages of the CPC enhanced luminescence to construct

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novel, efficient, eco-friendly, and low-cost optical devicessuch as optical sensors,

lasers, and displays.

8.12 Biomolecular screening with encoded porous-silicon photonic crystals

Strategies to encode or label small particles or beads for use in high throughput
screening and applications focus on either spatially differentiated, random distributions
of encoded beads Attempts to encode large numbers of polymeric, metallic or glass
beads in random or in fluid suspension have used a variety of entities to provide coded
elements fluorescent molecules, molecules with specific vibrational signatures ,
quantum dots or discrete metallic layers. Here we report a method for optically
encoding micrometer sized nanostructured particles of porous silicon. We generate
multilayered porous films in crystalline silicon using a periodic electrochemical This
results in photonic crystals with well resolved and narrow optical reflectivity features,
whose wavelengths are determined by the parameters. Millions of possible codes can
be prepared this way. Micrometre sized particles are then produced by ultrasonic
fracture mechanical grinding or by lithographic means. A simple antibody based
using fluorescently tagged proteins demonstrates the encoding strategy in biologically
relevant media.

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9. DISADVANTAGE

9.1 Optical switching with a nonlinear photonic crystal: a numerical

study :-

A nonlinear finite-difference time-domain method was used to investigate

optical switching mechanisms with a nonlinear photonic crystal and with two
electromagnetic pulses with different frequencies. It was found that the mechanism
based on the shifting of the band edge required the detector to discriminate between
the pump and the probe frequencies, whereas that based on frequency mixing did not.

9.2 Photonic crystal sensors:

An overview :-

Photonic crystals have achieved a lot of research significance due to their

projected applications. Their use as sensors is enabled due to their well-defined
physical properties such as reflectance/transmittance, superior levels of sensitivity
resulting in precise detection limits as well as due to the sparkling visual quality they
display in the visible range of wavelengths. The sensor itself is very small when the
photonic crystal technology is employed and measurements are possible through
coupling the incident and reflected/transmitted light to optical …

9.3 Ultralow-threshold electrically pumped quantum-dot photonic-

crystal nanocavity laser :-

Efficient, low-threshold and compact semiconductor laser sources are under

investigation for many applications in high-speed communications, information
processing and optical interconnects. The best edge-emitting and vertical-cavity
surface-emitting lasers have thresholds on the order of 100 µA but dissipate too much
power to be practical for many applications, particularly optical interconnects.
Optically pumped photonic-crystal nanocavity lasers represent the state of the art in
low-threshold lasers however, to be practical, techniques to electrically pump these
structures must be developed. Here, we demonstrate a quantum-dot photonic-crystal
nanocavity laser in gallium arsenide pumped by a lateral p–n junction formed by ion

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 Photonic Crystal

implantation. Continuous-wave lasing is observed at temperatures up to 150 K.

Thresholds of only at 50 K and at 150 K are observed—the lowest thresholds ever
observed in any type of electrically pumped laser.

9.4 Coupling of quantum-dot light emission with a three-dimensional

photonic-crystal nanocavity :-

We report on the first demonstration of the coupling of fully confined electrons

and photons using a combination of three-dimensional photonic crystal nanocavities
and quantum dots. The three dimensional photonic crystals were assembled by
stacking planar components using a sophisticated micro manipulation technique. Point
defects, containing embedded quantum dots, were introduced into the photonic crystals
as active sites. By measuring the photo luminescence spectra of the assembly, the
process by which light emitted from the quantum dots is coupled to the defect modes
of a three dimensional photonic crystal was demonstrated for the first time. The
characteristics of the sharp emission peaks agreed well with numerical simulations,
and these were confirmed to be resonant modes by polarization measurements. The
highest quality factor (Q-factor) for three dimensional photonic crystals was achieved.

9.5 Fabrication of photonic crystal lasers by nanomolding of sol-gel

glasses

We demonstrate the formation, in a single process step, of periodic arrays of

features of surface relief with submrometer lateral dimensions in hybrid organic and
inorganic solgel glasses by using elastomeric molding techniques. Lasers formed with
molded photonic crystal resonators that consist of triangular, square, and honeycomb
lattices of cylindrical posts and holes show emission spectra and lasing thresholds that
are similar to devices formed by conventional high-resolution photo lithographic
patterning of thick layers of thermally grown oxide.

9.6 Photonic crystals from emulsion templates

Macroporoustitania, which undergoes transition to the rutile phase by

calcination without collapse of the pore structure, is obtained by polymerizing a titania
sol suspended around “colloidal crystals” of oil droplets. The deformable template

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 Photonic Crystal

counteracts cracking of the titania phase. The Figure shows a scanning electron
micrograph of a rutile sample with 200 nm pores obtained by the method described.

9.7 The effect of higher-order dispersion on slow light propagation in

photonic crystal waveguides :-

We have studied the dispersion of ultrafast pulses in a photonic crystal

waveguide as a function of optical frequency, in both experiment and theory. With
phase-sensitive and time-resolved near-field microscopy, the light was probed inside
the waveguide in a non-invasive manner. The effect of dispersion on the shape of the
pulses was determined. As the optical frequency decreased, the group velocity
decreased. Simultaneously, the measured pulses were broadened during propagation,
due to an increase in group velocity dispersion. On top of that, the pulses exhibited a
strong asymmetric distortion as the propagation distance increased. The asymmetry
increased as the group velocity decreased. The asymmetry of the pulses is caused by a
strong increase of higher order dispersion. As the group velocity was reduced to 0.116.
We have modelled our interferometric measurements and included the full dispersion
of the photonic crystal waveguide. Our mathematical model and the experimental
findings showed a good correspondence. Our findings show that if the most commonly
used slow light regime in photonic crystals is to be exploited, great care has to be taken
about higher-order dispersion.

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 Photonic Crystal

10. Conclusions

The experimental results presented in this thesis showed that the measurement
of high temperature transmissive properties over the wavelength range of 1 to 20
microns and the temperature range of 30 to 800 °C could be performed with relative
ease using a novel approach based on the spectral emissometer. It may be noted that in
the experiments carried out using the spectral emissometer, measurement was limited
to a single point on the sample. In general, the effects of temperature, wavelength,
layers, etc on the transmittance of photonic crystals within the available 3mm
resolution, leads to the following observations:

 The spectral emissometer fails to show a 100% correspondence with the

Transmittance characteristics that have been documented in the paper by
Flemming and Lin.
 The effect of layers on the structure in general is to reduce transmittance. Thus
the lesser the number of layers, the more will it act like a normal crystal with
usual transmittance.
 If more defect structures in the crystal can be made, then the transmittance
would rapidly go to zero and this property could then be used to trap light and
may be used to construct powerful lasers, solar cells and other optoelectronic
devices.
 The roughness could also be used to increase light trapping for increased
conversion efficiencies in solar cells.

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11. Reference :-

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photonic_crystal

2) M. J. Steel, T. P. White, C. M. de Sterke, and R. C. McPhedran, “Symmetry

and degeneracy in microstructured optical fibers,” Opt. Lett. 26, 488-490
(2001).

3) T. P. White, R. C. McPhedran, C. M. de Sterke, L. C. Botten, and M. J. Steel,

“Confinement losses in microstructured optical fibers,” Opt. Lett. 26, 1660-
1662 (2001).

4) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18040361

5) https://onyourdesks.com/2019/09/06/photonic-crystals-market-demand-swot-analysis-
by-2025-key-players-advance-photonic-crystals-llc-us-corning-incorporated-us-
fianium-ltd-uk/

6) https://books.google.co.in/books?id=qFViAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=
photonic+crystal&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwisvbCyg87kAhUKQI8KHX_JAUYQ
6AEIVjAG#v=onepage&q=photonic%20crystal&f=false

7) https://books.google.co.in/books?id=owhE36qiTP8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=
photonic+crystal&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjRoI_pg87kAhUJK48KHc9FBZwQ6
AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=photonic%20crystal&f=false

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