Quasi-3D photonic crystals for nanophotonics

Photonic crystals have a great deal of potential in the area of integrated optics. Waveguides with small bends may be formed allowing compact integrated photonic circuits to be formed. Two-dimensional planar photonic crystals are examined for use as integrated photonic circuits. They, however, possess an inherent loss associated with coupling to radiation modes in the surrounding media. Thus, three-dimensional photonic circuits are required in order to realize very low loss integrated photonic crystal circuits. A three-dimensional photonic crystal that is only a few periods thick, quasi-3-D, and can support low loss waveguides embedded in it needs to be identified. We examine several candidate 3-D photonic crystal structures to determine a suitable structure for the fabrication of quasi-3-D photonic crystals.