Planar Photonic Crystal with Thermo-Optical Switching

Abstract

Temperature dependence of the transmission spectrum of one-dimensional multilayer photonic crystal with a liquid crystal defect layer has been studied. Dielectric multilayers have been fabricated by deposition of an alternating stack of SiO2 and ZrO2 layers on the glass substrate. Homeotropic layer of nematic liquid crystal 5CB is introduced between two multilayers as a defect of the periodic structure. The photonic crystal under study forms the first photonic bandgap in the visible range of the transmission spectrum with a set of the localized modes which number and positions are determined by properties of the defect layer and multilayer dielectric mirrors. The red shift of the defect modes about 10 run has been observed at the nematic-isotropic phase transition. The defect modes positions calculated by the transfer matrix method are in a good agreement with experimental data