Millimeter-scale and large-angle self-collimation in a photonic crystal composed of silicon nanorods

Abstract

We report the observation of a large-angle self-collimation phenomenon occurring in photonic crystals composed of nanorods. Electromagnetic waves incident onto such photonic crystals from directions covering a wide-range of incident angles become highly localized along a single array of rods, which results in narrow-beam propagation without divergence. A propagation length of 0.4 mm is experimentally observed over the wavelength range of 1540 nm to 1570 nm, even in the large incident angle case, which is a very considerable length scale for on-chip optical interconnection.