Characteristics of defect modes, slow light, and disorder in photonic crystals

Chapter 1 introduces the subject of photonic crystals and reviews the basic physical principles underlying the formation of a band gap and the creation of localized defect modes. Proposed applications, fabrication techniques, and numerical simulation methods are surveyed. Chapter 2 demonstrates the construction of 2D-like defect modes in a 3D photonic crystal with a complete gap. The modes are similar to those in 2D photonic crystals in terms of polarization, field profile, and projected band structures. The results should facilitate the implementation of 2D photonic-crystal devices in realistic 3D systems. Chapter 3 explores the possibility of using photonic-crystal defect modes to design magnetic metamaterials: structures that exhibit magnetic properties despite the non- magnetic character of their constituents. A synthetic magnetic moment is provided by a point-defect mode studied in Chapter 2. Quantitative analysis of the far-field radiation pattern proves that the mode has a primarily magnetic character: over 98% of the emitted power goes into magnetic multipole radiation. Chapter 4 calculates the radiation pressure on the surface of a waveguide formed by ornnidirectionally reflecting mirrors. In the absence of losses, the pressure goes to infinity as the distance between the mirrors is reduced to the cutoff separation of the waveguide mode. The divergence results from the reduction of the modal group velocity to zero, which causes slow-light magnification of the field intensity at constant power input.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Povinelli, Michelle Lynn, 1975-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• John D. Joannopoulos.

• Physics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/29449

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/29449