Light propagation and localization in modulated photonic lattices and waveguides

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent theoretical and experimental advances in modulated photonic lattices, highlighting how periodic modulation enables control over light propagation, diffraction, and nonlinear effects in photonic structures.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of how periodic modulation in photonic lattices influences light behavior, introducing new phenomena and control mechanisms not present in homogeneous media.

Findings

Discovery of discrete diffraction and solitons in photonic lattices

Control of light propagation through periodic modulation

Analogies between photonic lattices and electronic crystal lattices

Abstract

We review both theoretical and experimental advances in the recently emerged physics of modulated photonic lattices. Artificial periodic dielectric media, such as photonic crystals and photonic lattices, provide a powerful tool for the control of the fundamental properties of light propagation in photonic structures. Photonic lattices are arrays of coupled optical waveguides, where the light propagation becomes effectively discretized. Such photonic structures allow one to study many useful optical analogies with other fields, such as the physics of solid state and electron theory. In particular, the light propagation in periodic photonic structures resembles the motion of electrons in a crystalline lattice of semiconductor materials. The discretized nature of light propagation gives rise to many new phenomena which are not possible in homogeneous bulk media, such as discrete diffraction and diffraction management, discrete and gap solitons, and discrete surface waves. Recently, it was discovered that applying periodic modulation to a photonic lattice by varying its geometry or refractive index is very much similar to applying a bias to control the motion of electrons in a crystalline lattice. An interplay between periodicity and modulation in photonic lattices opens up unique opportunities for tailoring diffraction and dispersion properties of light as well as controlling nonlinear interactions.