Fabrication of Photonic Crystals with Autocloning and Its Application to Optical Devices

We have proposed a method for fabricating photonic crystals, which is named autocloning. It is based on sputtering deposition and sputter etching. When we stack multilayer with the autocloning method on a substrate patterned periodically, we can preserve corrugated surface shape whose symmetry and periodicity reflect those of the substrate pattern. Consequently, we can realize the multi-dimensional structures automatically. Almost all the processes are carried out in a vacuum chamber without alignment process, accordingly the autocloning is simple, reliable, and suitable for mass-production. In this paper, we report the mechanisms of the autocloning and its applications to optical devices. Particularly, we describe the polarization splitters and the channel waveguides utilizing lattice modulation of the photonic crystals.