Photonic bandgap (PBG) structures are artificial materials which are featured with periodically changed refractive index having a periodicity in the range of optical wavelengths. The studies in PBG structures are making rapid progress. However, the investigations of three-dimensional (3-D) PBG structures are still challenging.
In this work, laser-assisted fabrication of 3-D PBG structures based on self-assembled silica colloidal crystals was developed. 3-D PBG structures were fabricated by laser-assisted nano-imprinting and laser-assisted chemical vapor deposition (LCVD), based on the self-assembled silica colloidal crystals. Silica colloidal crystals were self-assembled on silicon substrates using isothermal heating evaporation-induced self-assembly. To infiltrate the silica colloidal crystals, the laser-assisted imprinting technique was used using a short pulse (23 ns pulse duration) of a KrF excimer laser. The nanosecond laser pulse instantaneously melted the silicon substrates, which infiltrated and solidified over the assembled silica particles on the substrates. By removing silica particles embedded in the silicon using hydrofluoric acid, inverseopal PBG structures were produced. In the LCVD technique, a continuous-wave Nd:YAG laser (1.064 μm wavelength) and a CO 2 laser (10.6 μm wavelength) were used as the energy source. Silica-core-silicon-shell PBG structures were obtained. This technique is capable of fabricating structures with various PBGs by obtaining different silicon-shell thickness with different LCVD parameters.
Both theoretical calculations and experimental measurements to investigate the optical properties of the PBG structures were carried out. Spectroscopic ellipsometry was used to identify PBGs. The plain-wave expansion (PWE) method was used to calculate the photonic-band diagrams of the structures, which agreed with the experimental results. The calculation also provided fitting results of the Si-shell thicknesses.
To investigate the properties of PBG structures and develop functional devices, a 2-D electrically tunable PBG device was designed using the PWE method. After the designing the structure materials and the structural parameters, the behavior of the tunable PBG device is simulated with the FDTD method. To explore the optical properties of 3-D PBG structures, a method of analyzing the optical refraction in 3-D PBG structures is proposed, with which it is possible to calculate the refraction light path in an arbitrary 3-D PBG structure using a personal computer.
