Opal-based composites as photonic crystals

Author

Ramanov, S.G. ; Fokin, A.V. ; Yates, H.M. ; Pemble, M.E. ; Johnson, N.F. ; De La Rue, R.M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. & Electr. Eng., Glasgow Univ., UK

Volume

147

Issue

2

fYear

2000

fDate

4/1/2000 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

138

Lastpage

144

Abstract

The photonic energy band structure of a 3D, face-centred cubic package of silica balls (synthetic opal) was studied for both the positive refractive index (RI) contrast (RT_ball>RI_void) and inverted contrast (RT_ball<RI_void) situations. The inverted situation was obtained by impregnation of interstitial voids with a high-RI semiconductor. Following the inversion of the scattering ensemble, a dramatic change in the stop-bandwidth and angular dispersion of the stop-band were observed. The spontaneous emission from an incomplete photonic crystal is anisotropic to an extent which depends on the angular dispersion of the stop-band: it is suppressed in the middle of the stop-band and amplified at the stop-band edges. The amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) regime is the result of interplay between the photonic and electronic energy bandstructures of the photonic crystal. This effect is considered to be a precursor for stimulated emission

Keywords

band structure; photonic band gap; refractive index; superradiance; 3D face-centred cubic package; amplified spontaneous emission; angular dispersion; electronic energy bandstructure; fcc; high-RI semiconductor; interstitial voids; inverted contrast; opal-based composite photonic crystals; photonic crystal; photonic energy band structure; positive refractive index contrast; scattering ensemble; silica balls; spontaneous emission; stimulated emission; stop-band; synthetic opal;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Optoelectronics, IEE Proceedings -

Publisher

iet

ISSN

1350-2433

Type

jour

DOI

10.1049/ip-opt:20000346

Filename

844450