Surface waves in photonic crystal slabs

TL;DR

This paper investigates surface modes in finite photonic crystal slabs, calculating their dispersion, and experimentally verifying their existence and properties through simulations and measurements.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of surface mode dispersion in photonic crystal slabs with different terminations, combining theoretical calculations with experimental validation.

Findings

Surface modes can be supported in finite photonic crystal slabs.

Surface band curves are accurately traced through experiments and simulations.

Non-radiative surface modes are excitable via attenuated total reflection.

Abstract

Photonic crystals with a finite size can support surface modes when appropriately terminated. We calculate the dispersion curves of surface modes for different terminations using the plane wave expansion method. These non-radiative surface modes can be excited with the help of attenuated total reflection technique. We did experiments and simulations to trace the surface band curve, both in good agreement with the numerical calculations.