Multichannel filters with shape designing in two-dimensional photonic crystal slabs.

We investigated the influence of the irregular shape of air holes on the optical characteristics of channel-drop filters built in a two-dimensional photonic crystal slab. Three differently shaped structures are tested by experiments and simulations to demonstrate the shape-tuning capability of the optical devices. A four-channel filter based on this shape design is presented. The photonic crystal consists of a triangular array of air holes fabricated by focused ion beam lithographic technology on a silicon slab with thickness of 260 nm. The filter contains a heterostructure with different lattice constants of 420 and 430 nm. In each channel, the filtering functionality is guaranteed by the indirect resonant coupling between waveguide and cavity. The elliptical air holes that surround the cavity have different parameters, and this leads to a fine tuning of the cavity’s resonant frequencies. The performance of the multichannel filter is found to be very encouraging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]