Crescent shaped dielectric periodic structure for light manipulation

Abstract

We present optical properties of crescent-shaped dielectric nano-rods that comprise a square lattice periodic structure named as crescent-shaped photonic crystals (CPC). The circular symmetry of individual cells of periodic dielectric structures is broken by replacing each unit cell with a reduced symmetry crescent shaped structure. The created configuration is assumed to be formed by the intersection of circular dielectric and air rods. The degree of freedom to manipulate the light propagation arises due to the rotational sensitivity of the CPC. The interesting dispersion property of designed CPC occurs due to the anisotropic nature of the iso-frequency contours that yield tilted self-collimated wave guiding. Furthermore, this feature allows focusing, routing, splitting and deflecting light beams along certain routes which are independent of the lattice symmetry directions of regular PCs. The propagation direction of light can be tuned by means of the opening angle of the crescent shape. Finally, the property of being all-dielectric structure ensures the absence of optical absorption losses that are reminiscent of employed metallic nano-particles. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America