Experimental probe of a complete 3D photonic band gap

Abstract

The identification of a complete three-dimensional (3D) photonic band gap in real crystals always employs theoretical or numerical models that invoke idealized crystal structures. Thus, this approach is prone to false positives (gap wrongly assigned) or false negatives (gap missed). Therefore, we propose a purely experimental probe of the 3D photonic band gap that pertains to many different classes of photonic materials. We study position and polarization-resolved reflectivity spectra of 3D inverse woodpile structures that consist of two perpendicular nanopore arrays etched in silicon. We observe intense reflectivity peaks $(R>90\%)$ typical of high-quality crystals with broad stopbands. We track the stopband width versus pore radius, which agrees much better with the predicted 3D photonic band gap than with a directional stop gap on account of the large numerical aperture used. A parametric plot of s-polarized versus p-polarized stopband width agrees very well with the 3D band gap and is model-free. This practical probe provides fast feedback on the advanced nanofabrication needed for 3D photonic crystals and stimulates practical applications of band gaps in 3D silicon nanophotonics and photonic integrated circuits, photovoltaics, cavity QED, and quantum information processing.

arXiv comment11 pages, 12 figures

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• Spatially shaping waves to penetrate deep inside a forbidden gap
• Reflectivity of Finite 3D GaAs Photonic Band Gap Crystals
• Enhanced Absorption in thin and ultrathin silicon films by 3D photonic band gap back reflectors
• Observation of light propagation through a three-dimensional cavity superlattice in a 3D photonic band gap
• Non-utopian optical properties computed of a tomographically reconstructed real photonic nanostructure
• Dispersion of backward-propagating waves in a surface defect on a 3D photonic band gap crystal
• Unsupervised Machine Learning to Classify the Confinement of Waves in Periodic Superstructures
• Symmetries and Wavefunctions of Photons Confined in 3D Photonic Band Gap Superlattices