Fabrication and properties of birefringent elements composed of Ta{sub}2O{sub}5/SiO{sub}2 photonic crystals for the violet wavelength range

摘要

We fabricate Ta{sub}2O{sub}5/SiO{sub}2 two dimensional photonic crystals for the visible range by our "autocloning" technique, a simple fabrication method of photonic crystals, and we demonstrate birefringent elements (λ/4 and λ/2 waveplate) composed of the photonic crystals for violet region, utilizing their anisotoropy. The absorption loss of a Ta{sub}2O{sub}5/SiO{sub}2 photonic crystal is very small in the green violet wavelength range. In comparison with conventional elements, the autocloned photonic crystal elements have several merits, being thin, light, and inexpensive, etc. They are expected to be widely utilizable in optoelectronics for the visible range, such as future optical pick-ups.