Tunable photonic structures based on silicon and liquid crystals

Abstract

This paper is focused on the design, fabrication and characterization of the conventional and tunable photonic devices based on grooved silicon, serving as one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal. The advantages of these photonic structures are as follows: the large refractive index contrast, in-plane moulding of the light flow, the possibility to fabricate a composite photonic structures by filling the grooves with a different compounds and compatibility with current semiconductor processing techniques. The optical properties of grooved Si structures were simulated using a transfer matrix method and gap map method and have been verified experimentally using FTIR microscopy. The air spaces in the basic silicon-air matrices were infiltrated with nematic liquid crystal E7. It is shown that the optical properties of the obtained composite 1D photonic crystals can be tuned by means of electro- and thermo-optical effects. Such a structures suit well for the various elements of the integrated optics and can serve as a building blocks for optical interconnects.