Investigation of a tunable T-shaped waveguide based on a silicon 2D photonic crystal

We investigate the tunability of a T-shaped waveguiding diplexer, based on a two-dimensional square lattice photonic crystal (PhC) composed of silicon rods in air and in liquid crystals (LCs), respectively. For both devices we prove that a complete splitting of the entire input wavelength range into right and left arms respectively can be achieved. Moreover, a tuning of the switching wavelength can be obtained by changing the refractive index of silicon by the thermo-optic effect for PhCs in air, and the refractive index of liquid crystals by the electro-optic effect for PhCs in LCs.

[1]  E. Snoeks,et al.  Design and optimization of 2D photonic crystal waveguides based on silicon , 2002 .

[2]  J. Joannopoulos,et al.  High Transmission through Sharp Bends in Photonic Crystal Waveguides. , 1996, Physical review letters.

[3]  Kurt Busch,et al.  Liquid-Crystal Photonic-Band-Gap Materials: The Tunable Electromagnetic Vacuum , 1999 .

[4]  Katsumi Yoshino,et al.  Tunable light propagation in Y-shaped waveguides in two-dimensional photonic crystals utilizing liquid crystals as linear defects , 2003 .

[5]  Katsumi Yoshino,et al.  Tunable light propagation in Y-shaped waveguides in two-dimensional photonic crystals composed of semiconductors depending on temperature , 2003 .

[6]  Luigi Sirleto,et al.  Electro-optical switch and continuously tunable filter based on a Bragg grating in a planar waveguide with a liquid crystal overlayer , 2002 .

[7]  Steven G. Johnson,et al.  Photonic Crystals: Molding the Flow of Light , 1995 .

[8]  Kurt Busch,et al.  Tunable two-dimensional photonic crystals using liquid crystal infiltration , 2000 .

[9]  Masanori Ozaki,et al.  Temperature tuning of the stop band in transmission spectra of liquid-crystal infiltrated synthetic opal as tunable photonic crystal , 1999 .

[10]  L. Andreani,et al.  Silicon-based two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguides , 2003 .

[11]  Jasmin Smajic,et al.  On the design of photonic crystal multiplexers. , 2003, Optics express.

[12]  Jasmin Smajic,et al.  Optimization of photonic crystal structures. , 2004, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[13]  Didier Felbacq,et al.  Multiplexing and demultiplexing with photonic crystals , 1999 .