Physics Letters A 379 (2015) 2257–2260
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Physics Letters A
www.elsevier.com/locate/pla
Study on the propagation mechanism of evanescent waves
in one-dimensional periodic photonic crystal
✩
Ying Chen
a,∗
, Jia Shi
a
, Teng Liu
a
, Jing Dong
a
, Qiguang Zhu
b
, Weidong Chen
b
a
Hebei Province Key Laboratory of Test/Measurement Technology and Instrument, School of Electrical Engineering, Yanshan University,
Qinhuangdao
066004, China
b
Key Laboratory of Special Fiber and Fiber Sensor of Hebei Province, School of Information Science and Engineering, Yanshan University,
Qinhuangdao
066004, China
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received
30 June 2015
Accepted
4 July 2015
Available
online 10 July 2015
Communicated
by V.M. Agranovich
Keywords:
Periodic
photonic crystals
Evanescent
wave
Optical
resonance
Transmission
spectrum
Based on the evanescent waves theory, the formation condition and propagation mechanism of
evanescent waves in one-dimensional periodic photonic crystal are studied. When the incident light
travels through the periodic photonic crystal at a certain angle, the optical resonance will occur in
the optically denser medium, and a unique photonic local feature will occur in photonic bandgap.
Furthermore, the influences on transmission performance by the photonic crystal parameters are
discussed respectively. The simulation results show that the structure mentioned above can achieve
the performance of high transmission and high Q value, which can provide theoretical references for
photonic crystal multi-channel filters.
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Photonic crystals [1] (PCs) are the artificial crystal structures
which are composed of different refractive index medium materi-
als,
whose basic optical characteristics are the photonic band gap
[2] and photonic localization [3,4]. Different band gap distribu-
tions
can be obtained by adopting different structures or materials,
therefore, the light transmission performances of PCs can be regu-
lated
and controlled effectively by adjusting PC structural parame-
ters.
In addition, the PCs have the advantages of simple structures,
easy integration, etc., therefore, the design and application of PCs
in the optical devices have broad application prospects.
At
present, PCs have been widely used in PC filters [5,6], PC
lasers [7,8], PC optical switches [9,10], PC sensors [11,12] and
many other aspects. A composite PC structure with two symmet-
rical
defect layers at the port is proposed by Hai-bo Chen [13], by
controlling the incident light intensity to fine-tune the dielectric
constant of PC materials, hence the spectrum utilization efficiency
and the channel density can be enhanced greatly. Based on the
photonic localization and the surface wave principle, Namda et al.
[14] produced an optical fiber nanosensor by introducing negative
dielectric constant materials. It can be seen that the design of the
PC device is usually achieved based on the photonic localization of
✩
Fully documented templates are available in the elsarticle package on CTAN.
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail
address: chenying@ysu.edu.cn (Y. Chen).
the PCs with defects, however, the photonic localization in regular
periodic PCs is seldom studied.
When
the evanescent wave [15–17] travels through the one-
dimensional
(1D) periodical PCs, the photonic localization can be
obtained by designing PC structure and adjusting PC parameters
reasonably. Based on the theory of the total reflection and evanes-
cent
waves, the formation and propagation conditions of evanes-
cent
waves in 1D periodical PCs are analyzed theoretically, and the
periodical PC structure based on the prism coupling is proposed.
On this basis, considering the optical resonance [18] of the evanes-
cent
waves and the electric field distribution within the PC, the
propagation mechanism of the evanescent waves in 1D periodical
PCs is studied, at the same time, the influence on the transmission
performance of the evanescent waves by the factor of the thickness
or the period number is discussed respectively.
2. Structure model and theoretical analysis
2.1. PC structure model
The PC is expressed (AB)
m
A, as shown in Fig. 1, in which A
and B are the dielectric layers with low refractive index and high
refractive index, and the PC parameters are taken as n
A
= 1.45,
n
B
= 2.6, d
B
= 600 nm. The prisms on the top and bottom of the
PC are used to couple light into and out of the PC, the refractive
indexes of both prisms are all assumed to n
D
=2.6.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physleta.2015.07.009
0375-9601/
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.