Surface modes in two-dimensional photonic crystal slabs with a flat dielectric margin

We report numerical simulations of surface modes in two-dimensional high-index-contrast photonic crystal slabs with a flat dielectric margin of width on the order of the photonic crystal periodicity. Our calculations using plane wave expansion method reveal multiple surface guided modes within the photonic band gap, with some high-order modes exhibit relatively flat dispersion curves. We calculate the finite-length surface waveguide modes transmission and field patterns using two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain method. We verify the surface mode dispersion curves by using spatial Fourier transform of the mode field patterns. Our study on surface modes under small ambient refractive index changes (5 x 10(-3)) shows that lower order modes exhibit larger wavelength shifts on the order of 1 nm. We also design a 4-port 3-channel bidirectional coupler using a conventional dielectric waveguide side coupled to the multimode surface waveguide. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.