Photonic crystal: An Introduction

Photonic crystal: Periodic arrangement of dielectric (metallic, polaritonic) objects. Lattice constants comparable to the wavelength of light in the material.

 A worm ahead of its time

Sea Mouse and its hair

Normal incident light

Off-Normal incident light

20cm

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~nicolae/seamouse.html

Fast forward to 1987

E. Yablonovitch Inhibited spontaneous emission in solid state physics and electronics
Physical Review Letters, vol. 58, pp. 2059, 1987

S. John Strong localization of photons in certain disordered dielectric superlattices

Physical Review Letters, vol. 58, pp. 2486, 1987

Face-centered cubic lattice

Complete photonic band gap

Omni-directional reflector

Y. Fink, et al, Science, vol.282, p.1679 (1998)

B. Temelkuran et al, Nature, vol.420, p.650 -3 (2002)

Integrated photonic circuits and photonic crystal fibers

J. D. Joannopoulos, et al, Nature, vol.386, p.143-9 (1997)

R. F. Cregan, et al, Science, vol.285, p.1537-9 (1999)

Three-dimensional photonic crystals

Y. A. Vaslov, Nature, vol.414, p.289-93 (2001)

S. Lin et al, Nature, vol. 394, p. 251-3, (1998)

The emphasis of recent breakthroughs

The use of strong index contrast, and the developments of nanofabrication technologies, which leads to entirely new sets of phenomena.
Conventional silica fiber, n~0.01, photonic crystal structure, n ~ 1

New conceptual framework in optics

Band structure concepts. Coupled mode theory approach for photon transport.

Photonic crystal: semiconductors for light.

Two-dimensional photonic crystal 1.5 m a

High-index dielectric material, e.g. Si or GaAs

Band structure of a two-dimensional crystal

Displacement field parallel to the cylinder
0.8 0.8

Frequency (c/a)

0.7

0.6 0.6
0.5 air band

0.4 0.4
0.3

0.2 0.2
0.1

dielectric band TM modes

M X
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0.0

Wavevector (2/a)
Wavevector determines the phase between nearest neighbor unit cells. X: (0.5*2/a, 0): Thus, nearest neighbor unit cell along the x-direction is 180 degree out-of-phase M: (0.5*2/a, 0.5*2/a): nearest neighbor unit cell along the diagonal direction is 180 degree out-of-phase

Maxwells equation in the steady state

Time-dependent Maxwells equation in dielectric media:
H (r, t ) = 0 E(r, t ) = 0

H (r, t ) (r )

( 0 E(r, t )) t

=0

E (r, t ) +

( 0H (r, t )) =0 t

Time harmonic mode (i.e. steady state): H(r,t ) = H(r )eit E(r,t ) = E(r )eit Maxwell equation for the steady state:
H(r ) + i ((r )0E(r )) = 0

E(r ) i (0H(r )) = 0

Masters equation for steady state in dielectric

Expressing the equation in magnetic field only:
2 1 H (r ) = H (r ) c (r)

c=

0 0

Thus, the Maxwells equation for the steady state can be expressed in terms of an eigenvalue problem, in direct analogy to quantum mechanics that governs the properties of electrons. Quantum mechanics Field Eigen-value problem Operator
(r, t ) = (r)e jt
H(r) = E(r )
2 2 = + V (r ) H 2m

Electromagnetism
H (r, t ) = H (r )e it
2 H (r ) = 2 H (r ) c 1 = (r)

Electromagnetism as an eigenvalue problem

The master equations define an operator:
H (r ) 1 H (r ) (r )

Importantly, the operator is a Hermitian operator. If we define the inner product of two vector fields F(r) and G(r) as:
(F,G ) =

drF (r) G(r)

*

then

( F,G ) = drF*

G * 1 = dr ( F ) G 1
*

1 = dr F ( G ) 1 = dr F G = ( F,G )
*

General property of the harmonic modes

Having the operator to be Hermitian leads to a number of nice properties about the harmonic modes Assuming that H(r) is an eigen-mode, i.e. 2 is real. 2 is positive.
2 H (r ) = H (r ) c

2 2 (H,H ) = (H,H ) = (H,H ) = (H,H ) c c

2 (H,H ) = (H,H ) = c

dr (1r) H

Two modes H1(r) and H2(r) at different frequencies 1 and 2 are orthogonal, i.e. (H1, H2) = 0
1 2 2 2 (H 2 , H 1 ) = (H 2 ,H 1 ) = (H 2 , H 1 ) = (H 2 , H 1 ) c c

Thus if 1 and 2 are different, then (H1, H2) = 0.

Consequence of the orthogonality

For two real one-dimensional function f(x) and g(x) to be orthogonal, i.e.
0 = ( f , g) =

dx f (x)g(x)

Thus, the product fg must be negative as much as it is positive over the interval of interest, so that the net integral vanishes. Since the operator H (r )
1 H (r ) (r )

contains derivative with respect to the field, higher-frequency mode tends to have more spatial variation in their field patterns. By orthogonality, higher-frequency mode tends to have more nodal plane in the field pattern.

Scale Invariance
The solution at one scale determines the solution at all other length scales.
Suppose, for example, we have an electromagnetic steady state H(r) in a dielectric configuration (r)

2 1 H(r ) = H(r ) c (r )
Then, in a configuration of dielectric (r) that is just a compressed or expanded version of (r): (r) = (r/s), Using r = sr. we have

2 1 H(r ) = H(r ) cs (r )
equivalent a a

Normalized units
The lattice constant: a The units of the following physical quantities become: Frequency: c/a Angular frequency: 2c/a Wavevector: 2/a Wavelength: a
A simple example for reading the band diagram
0.8 Frequency (c/a)
0.7 0.6 0.6 0.5 air band 0.8

Gap extends from 0.2837 c/a to 0.4183 c/a The mid gap frequency is at 0.3510 c/a To design a crystal such that a 1.55 micron light falls at the center of the gap, we have

0.4
0.3 dielectric band M X

0.4

0.2
0.1 TM modes

0.2

M X

0.0

c/(1.55micron) = 0.3510 c/a, hence a = 0.3510 * 1.55 micron = 0.5440 micron

Wavevector (2/a)

Electromagnetic energy and the variational principle

From the Master equations:

First two bands, at M-point Displacement field

2
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1 H(r) = H(r) = H(r) c (r )

Integral form:

Frequency (c/a)

= c
2

dr

1 2 H(r) (r )

dr H(r)

0.8
0.7 0.6 0.6 0.5 air band

0.8

0.4
0.3 dielectric band M X

0.4

Concentration of the electric field in the high dielectric constant region minimizes the frequency.

0.2
0.1 TM modes

0.2

M X

0.0

Wavevector (2/a)

A simple example of the band-structure: vacuum (1d)

Vacuum: =1, =1, plane-wave solution to the Maxwells equation: k

with a transversality constraints: k H

He i(k rt )

=0

A band structure, or dispersion relation defines the relation between the frequency , and the wavevector k.

=ck

For a one-dimensional system, the band structure can be simply depicted as:

=ck

Visualization of the vacuum band structure (2d)

For a two-dimensional system:

= c k x2 + k y2
This function depicts a cone: light cone.

Light cone

kx

A few ways to visualize this band structure :

ky kx

ky

Continuum of plane wave Light line

=ckx 0
kx
(0,0) (k,0) (k,k) (0,0)

Constant frequency contour

Projected band diagram

Band diagram along several special directions

Bloch theorem for electromagnetism

In a periodic dielectric media, i.e. (r+a)=(r), the solution H(r) to the Masters equation:
1 H (r ) = H (r ) c (r )
2

a1 a2

has to satisfy the following relations:

H (r ) = ei (kr )u k (r )

where uk(r) = uk(r+a) is a periodic function.

Bloch wave functions

e ikx
u(x)

e u(x)

ikx

A simple proof of Bloch theorem

Proof in 1 dimension

(Solid state Phys. Kittel, p179-180) x

Consider N identical lattice points on a ring of length Na

The dielectric function is periodic in a, with (x)=(x+sa), where s is an integer

Translational symmetry Expect solutions of the wave equation H(x+a) = C H(x)
n-times

Going once around the ring: H(x+Na) = H(x) = CN H(x) C is one of the N roots of unity: C = exp(i2s/N); s = 0, 1, 2, , N-1 Bloch function H(x) = uk(x) exp(i2sx/(Na)) satisfies Where uk(x+a) = uk(x) H(x+a) = C H(x) H(x+Na) = H(x)

Bragg scattering
Incident light eikx re-ikx Regardless of how small the reflectivity r is from an individual scatter, the total reflection R from a semi infinite structure:

R = reikx + re 2ika eikx + re 4ika eikx + ... = reikx

Diverges if e2ika = 1 k=

1 1 e2ika

Bragg condition

Light can not propagate in a crystal, when the frequency of the incident light is such that the Bragg condition is satisfied

Origin of the photonic band gap

A brief review of the reciprocal lattice

iG a =0 The reciprocal lattice vector G is defined by: e where a is any lattice vector of the crystal.

See Kittel, pp. 32-33

For a given set of lattice vectors, a1, a2 and a3, the set of basis vectors for the reciprocal lattice is:
b1 = a2 a3 2 a1 (a 2 a 3 ) b2 = a 3 a1 2 a1 (a 2 a 3 ) b3 = a1 a 2 2 a1 (a 2 a 3 )

The reciprocal lattice vector G are: G = n1b1 + n 2b2 + n 3b 3 , where n1, n2, n3 are arbitrary integers.

b2 a1 a2 b1

Summary
Photonic crystals are artificial media with a periodic index contrast.
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Electromagnetic wave in a photonic crystal is described by a band structure, which relates the frequency of modes to the wavevectors. Fundamental properties of modes: scale invariance, orthogonality.
Frequency (c/a)

0.8
0.7 0.6 0.6 0.5 air band

0.8

0.4
0.3 dielectric band M X

0.4

0.2
0.1 TM modes

0.2

M X

0.0

Wavevector (2/a)

Electromagnetic energy and the variational principle

The solution H(r) to the Master equation:
2 H(r) = (r ) H(r) = H (r) c
1

Minimizes the following functional:

E f [H ] = 1 (H,H ) 2 (H, H )

Proof:
E f [H + H ] = 1 (H + H,H + H ) 2 (H + H, H + H )

1 1 (H,H ) + (H, H ) = [(H,H ) + (H,H ) + (H,H )] 2 2 (H,H ) H, H ) ( 1 (H,H ) 1 1 (H, H )(H,H ) + 1 1 H,H (H,H )(H,H ) = + (H,H ) ( ) 2 (H, H ) 2 (H, H ) (H, H ) 2 (H,H ) (H, H ) = 1 (H,H ) = E f [H ] 2 (H, H )

Electromagnetic energy and the variational principle

The variational theorem gives us some hint about the low-lying eigen-states. Since
1 (H , H ) 1 1 E f [H ] = = 2 (H , H ) 2 (H , H )

First two bands, at M-point Displacement field

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1 dr D c

From this equation the functional Ef is minimized when the displacement field D is concentrated in the regions of high dielectric constant, thus, the lower order modes tend to concentrate its displacement field in the region of high dielectric constant.

0.8 Frequency (c/a)

0.7 0.6 0.6 0.5 air band

0.8

0.4
0.3 dielectric band M X

0.4

0.2
0.1 TM modes

0.2

M X

0.0

Wavevector (2/a)