Fabrication and characterization of different types of two-dimensional AlGaAs photonic crystal slabs

Photonic crystals having two-dimensional periodicity on a length scale of 320-450 nm are fabricated by electron beam lithography in combination with high-aspect-ratio dry etching. To achieve three-dimensional control of the optical properties, three kinds of dielectric waveguide structures based on AlGaAs heterostructures, that is, semiconductor-clad, air-bridge, and oxide-clad structures, are investigated. The ability to guide light through such photonic crystal devices is demonstrated by optical transmission measurements. Clear photonic band gap effects resulting in 30 dB attenuation of the transmitted light can be observed in the stop-band regions. The measured results are in good agreement with theoretical band-structure calculations and with numerically computed transmission spectra obtained by the finite-difference time-domain method. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.