Independent control of upper and lower cutoff frequencies in two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguides

摘要

The independent control of the upper and lower cutoff frequencies of the guided modes in coupled-cavity wavguides (CCWs) is investigated numerically. The CCWs are formed in a two-dimensional photonic crystal (2D PhC) consisting of a square array of dielectric rods in the air. The dielectric constant and radius of the rods in the perfect PhC is 11.56 and 0.18α, respectively, in which α is lattice constant. By using the plane wave expansion method (PWEM), the impact of two influencing factors on cutoff frequencies in CCWs is calculated systematically. Efficient methods have been demonstrated for tuning one cutoff frequency while keeping the other unchanged. The indepent control ranges of the upper and lower cutoff can be up to 67.85% and 68.57% of photonic band gap (PBG), respectively. The results can be applied to the design of PhC-based optical devices such as band filters and optical switches.