Controlled light propagation in random, periodic, and superperiodic silicon nanophotonic materials

The goal of this thesis is to steer light deep inside otherwise opaque media. Opaque media are those that strongly interact with light, leading to low transmission and high scattering or reflection. We perform experimental studies on samples that interact with light in different manners. The opaque samples range from randomly distributed nanoparticles that scatter light in all directions to 3D periodically ordered photonic crystals with a forbidden range of light frequencies, a full photonic band gap, and even superperiodic structures, namely 3D arrays of coupled resonating cavities in a 3D band gap. In presence of multiple scattering, the wavefront shaping phase modulation technique is used to focus light behind or inside the medium. We apply this technique to photonic crystals with a forbidden energy gap for light that have intrinsic fabrication disorder that results in multiple scattering. By adding periodically repeated cavities in 3D band gap crystals, we finally present a novel controlled wave transport in superperiodic media, where light hops from cavity to cavity within an otherwise forbidden photonic band gap.