Design of Photonic Crystal Waveguides

Abstract

This chapter demonstrates photon confinement by photonic crystal for carbonnanotubes (CNT)-based infrared sensors (IR). The solution of light transmission in photonic crystal is an eigenvalue problem of electromagnetism. The photonic band gap of photonic crystal is related to the dielectric constant of two different dielectric media, lattice geometry and their sizes, and the transverse electrical field-and transverse magnetic field-like modes of an incident source. The quantum resonant nanocavity of photonic crystal enables the control of localization of an infrared source in the nanoscale area for performance enhancement of optical sensors. While designing photonic crystal with defective cavity, one should consider-the dielectric constant contrast and size of point defect to match with the resonant state of infrared light, and the lattice size arrangement to obtain max light energy in the point defect. These factors determine the performance of CNT-based IR sensors with photonic crystal. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.