Photonic crystal-based polarization selector for planar architectures

Polarization selectors, especially, those involving quantum dots (QDs) in photonic crystals (PCs) are interesting as they offer scalability for planar architectures. Three-dimensional finite difference time domain simulations were used to design PC structures suitable for polarization-selective transmission of QD emission into different regions as well as polarization beam splitters with different splitting ratios. Different waveguide out couplers were also designed for these coupled waveguide PC structures. As the transmitted intensity is the net result of superposition of all scattered beams, QD position defines the coupling efficiency to different paths. A detailed study showed that the transmission efficiency has intermediate maxima when the QD is shifted in either x- or z-directions. (C) 2014 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)