Visible Progress Made in Three‐Dimensional Photonic ‘Crystals’

JAN 01, 1999

Researchers have made artificial structures that block light near visible wavelengths. Eventually, they hope to trap light within the structure or guide it along a prescribed path to make lasers, switches, waveguides and interconnects tor photonic integrated circuits.

DOI: 10.1063/1.882565

Barbara Goss Levi

Spurred by the success of the semiconductor industry, researchers are trying to push circuit devices to higher speeds and greater functionality by using photons rather than electrons. At the heart of the semiconductor technology is the electronic bandgap, a range of energies within which electrons cannot propagate through a material. It turns out that certain material structures can have a photonic bandgap. a range of forbidden frequencies within which light cannot be transmitted. The electronic bandgap results from the periodic arrangement of atoms in the semiconductor; the photonic analog stems from a regular array of dielectric material, known as a photonic crystal.