Cartesian Light Propagation in a 3D Crystal of Photonic-Bandgap Cavities

Sjoerd Hack (Speaker), D. Devashish (Contributor), Uppu, R. (Contributor), van der Vegt, J. J. W. (Contributor), Vos, W. L. (Contributor)

Activity: Talk or presentation › Oral presentation

Description

We study the unconventional propagation of light through a three-dimensional (3D) superstructure of resonant cavities in a 3D photonic band gap crystal. Such a 3D crystal of cavities is the photonic analogue of the Anderson model that describes electronic and spin excitations [1]. Here, we calculate the coupled-cavity modes.
We find that the dispersion is accurately described by a hopping Hamiltonian, wherein the light only hops in the Cartesian x-y-z directions and in the xz diagonal directions, which strongly differs from the usual Bloch wave propagation. The bandwidth of the dispersion depends strongly on direction, which is explained by negative xz-couplings.

Recently, our group has started to fabricate 3D crystals of cavities in inverse woodpile crystals [2]. We predict how these unconventional modes of light can be excited in our optical experiments, by employing wavefront shaping.
[1] Anderson, Phys. Rev. 109, 1492 (1958)
[2] Grishina et al., Nanotechnology 26, 505302 (2015)
Period25 Sep 2017
Event titleMESA+ Meeting 2017: null
Event typeConference
LocationEnschede, Netherlands
Degree of RecognitionInternational