Influence of structural fluctuations on Q factor of nanocavities at the surface of three-dimensional photonic crystals

We investigate the influence of structural fluctuations on the Q factor of nanocavities at the surface of 3D photonic crystals with a stacked-stripe structure. We analyze the Q factor of nanocavities by 3D finite-difference time-domain calculations in consideration of the misalignment of the position of the stacked layers and the fluctuation of the patterns in each layer. Misalignment of the order of similar to 50 nm has almost no influence on the Q factor, but the pattern fluctuations of the order of nanometers in each layer, especially in the surface layer, seriously impact the decrease of the Q factor. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America