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A three-dimensional optical photonic crystal with designed point defects

Nature volume 429, pages 538–542 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Photonic crystals1,2,3 offer unprecedented opportunities for miniaturization and integration of optical devices. They also exhibit a variety of new physical phenomena, including suppression or enhancement of spontaneous emission, low-threshold lasing, and quantum information processing4. Various techniques for the fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals—such as silicon micromachining5, wafer fusion bonding6, holographic lithography7, self-assembly8,9, angled-etching10, micromanipulation11, glancing-angle deposition12 and auto-cloning13,14—have been proposed and demonstrated with different levels of success. However, a critical step towards the fabrication of functional 3D devices, that is, the incorporation of microcavities or waveguides in a controllable way, has not been achieved at optical wavelengths. Here we present the fabrication of 3D photonic crystals that are particularly suited for optical device integration using a lithographic layer-by-layer approach15. Point-defect microcavities are introduced during the fabrication process and optical measurements show they have resonant signatures around telecommunications wavelengths (1.3–1.5 µm). Measurements of reflectance and transmittance at near-infrared are in good agreement with numerical simulations.

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Figure 1: Schematic of the 3D PhC and its fabrication in silicon (Si).
Figure 2: Scanning-electron micrographs of the fabricated 3D PhCs.
Figure 3: FTIR-microscopy characterization of the 3D PhC with point defects.
Figure 4: Supercontinuum-light-source characterization of point-defect states.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank M. Mondol and J. Daley for experimental assistance, and M. Povinelli for helpful discussions. The work was supported in part by a grant from the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center program of the National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139, USA

    Minghao Qi, Elefterios Lidorikis, Peter T. Rakich, Steven G. Johnson, J. D. Joannopoulos, Erich P. Ippen & Henry I. Smith

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  1. Minghao Qi
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  2. Elefterios Lidorikis
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Correspondence to Minghao Qi.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Figure 1

Showing what the hole layer and rod layer look like in order to achieve a 25% 3D photonic band gap in the new 3D photonic crystal.

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Qi, M., Lidorikis, E., Rakich, P. et al. A three-dimensional optical photonic crystal with designed point defects. Nature 429, 538–542 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02575

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