Optical study of two-dimensional InP-based photonic crystals by internal light source technique

We present the first optical study of 2-D photonic crystals (PCs) deeply etched in an InP/GaInAsP step-index waveguide. Following the same internal light source approach proposed by Labilloy et al. (1997,1999) for the investigation of GaAs-based 2-D PCs, transmission measurements through simple PC slabs and 1-D Fabry-Perot (FP) cavities between PC mirrors were performed. Details are given on the experimental setup which has been implemented with respect to the original scheme and adapted to InP-based systems working at 1.5-μm. 2-D plane-wave expansion and finite difference time-domain (FDTD) methods are used to fit the experimental data. Out-of-plane losses were evaluated according to a recently introduced phenomenological model. In spite of the complex hole morphology in the measured samples, preliminary results are presented which indicate the possibility of separating different loss contributions from finite etch depth and hole shape. As for 1-D cavities, both FDTD and classical theory for planar resonators are applied in order to deduce the optical properties of the PC mirrors. The origin of an anomalously high transmission observed inside the stopgap is discussed and arguments are given to demonstrate the need for further modeling efforts when working in the bandgap regime