Proposal for enhancing the transmission efficiency of photonic crystal 60° waveguide bends by means of optofluidic infiltration

We are proposing a procedure to enhance the transmission efficiency of 60 degrees photonic crystal (PhC) waveguide bends by means of selective optofluidic infiltration of an air hole, which is created as a point defect at the center of the conventional 60 degrees PhC bend. Numerical studies demonstrate that by varying the defect radius and indices of optical fluids, one may enhance the bend transmission level and tune its 3 dB bandwidth over a substantial range of 88-138nm. In order to perform the numerical simulations, we have used two-dimensional (2D) finite difference time domain plane wave method, keeping in mind that the spectral features obtained by these 2D calculations are about 15% redshifted from those of real three-dimensional structures. (c) 2011 Optical Society of America