Faggiani, Rémi, Baron, Alexandre, Zang, Xiaorun et al. (8 more authors) (2016) Lower bound for the spatial extent of localized modes in photonic-crystal waveguides with small random imperfections. Scientific Reports. 27037. ISSN 2045-2322
Abstract
Light localization due to random imperfections in periodic media is paramount in photonics research. The group index is known to be a key parameter for localization near photonic band edges, since small group velocities reinforce light interaction with imperfections. Here, we show that the size of the smallest localized mode that is formed at the band edge of a one-dimensional periodic medium is driven instead by the effective photon mass, i.e. the flatness of the dispersion curve. Our theoretical prediction is supported by numerical simulations, which reveal that photonic-crystal waveguides can exhibit surprisingly small localized modes, much smaller than those observed in Bragg stacks thanks to their larger effective photon mass. This possibility is demonstrated experimentally with a photonic-crystal waveguide fabricated without any intentional disorder, for which near-field measurements allow us to distinctly observe a wavelength-scale localized mode despite the smallness (∼1/1000 of a wavelength) of the fabrication imperfections.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Physics (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 08 Sep 2016 08:47 |
Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2024 13:13 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/srep27037 |
Status: | Published online |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/srep27037 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:104521 |