Photonic crystal band-shifting device for dynamic control of light transmission
First Claim
1. An apparatus for dynamic control of light transmission comprising:
- a photonic crystal waveguide comprising;
a substrate;
a slab disposed on the substrate;
a core in the slab having an input side on a first end of the waveguide and an output side on a second end of the waveguide;
two electrically conductive pads disposed onto the slab and adjacent to a portion of the core;
a first region of the core between the electrically conductive pads;
a second region of the core between the input side of the waveguide and the first region of the core, wherein the second region comprises a gradually increasing group index; and
a third region of the core between the first region of the core and the output side of the waveguide, wherein the third region comprises a gradually decreasing group index.
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Abstract
An active device for dynamic control of lightwave transmission properties has at least one photonic crystal waveguide that has anti-reflection photonic crystal waveguides with gradually changed group refractive indices at both input and output side. An alternating voltage or current signal applied to two electrically conductive regions changes the refractive indices of the photonic crystal materials, introducing a certain degree of blue-shift or red-shift of the transmission spectrum of the photonic crystal waveguide. The output lightwave with frequency close to the band-edge of the photonic crystal waveguide is controlled by the input electric signal. Devices having one or more such active photonic crystal waveguides may be utilized as an electro-optic modulator, an optical switch, or a tunable optical filter.
24 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus for dynamic control of light transmission comprising:
- a photonic crystal waveguide comprising;
a substrate; a slab disposed on the substrate; a core in the slab having an input side on a first end of the waveguide and an output side on a second end of the waveguide; two electrically conductive pads disposed onto the slab and adjacent to a portion of the core; a first region of the core between the electrically conductive pads; a second region of the core between the input side of the waveguide and the first region of the core, wherein the second region comprises a gradually increasing group index; and a third region of the core between the first region of the core and the output side of the waveguide, wherein the third region comprises a gradually decreasing group index. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
- a photonic crystal waveguide comprising;
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12. An apparatus for dynamic control of light transmission comprising:
- a photonic crystal waveguide comprising;
a substrate; a slab disposed on the substrate; a core in the slab having an input side on a first end of the waveguide and an output side on a second end of the waveguide; two electrically conductive pads disposed onto the slab and adjacent to a portion of the core; a first region of the core between the electrically conductive pads; a second region of the core between the input side of the waveguide and the first region of the core, wherein the second region comprises a gradually increasing group index; a third region of the core between the first region of the core and the output side of the waveguide, wherein the third region comprises a gradually decreasing group index; a first evanescent field optical mode converter coupled to the second region of the core; and a second evanescent field optical mode converter coupled to the third region of the core. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
- a photonic crystal waveguide comprising;
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17. A method for applying dynamic control to a signal comprising:
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transmitting the signal into a first transition region, wherein the first transition region comprises a first photonic crystal waveguide with a gradually increasing group index; transmitting the signal from the first transition region into a core region that can be dynamically tuned by external voltage or current; and transmitting the signal from the core region into a second transition region, wherein the second transition region comprises a second photonic crystal waveguide with a gradually decreasing group index. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification