Light localization and filtering in three dimensional photonic structures

Abstract

Three dimensional photonic structures specifically, woodpile photonic crystals, have great potential for manipulating light propagation such as localization and filtering. Efficient harvesting of the energy of the incident photons require spatially localized waves interacting strongly with the absorbing material. Meanwhile, one can also utilize similar concept in order to implement filtering of light via defining drop channels that are linked with the main waveguide. One unique property of the woodpile photonic crystals is the complete band gap feature that may reduce the out-of-plane losses. Besides, band gap width and edges can be tuned by chirping three-dimensional woodpile photonic crystals. In the present work, we show light localization via 'rainbow trapping' concept and propose a drop-out mechanism based on the enhanced interaction between a defect waveguide and defect micro-cavities. Frequency resolved light detection/absorption and filtering capabilities are important in photodetector applications, optical communication, and solar energy. © 2017 IEEE.