Low temperature sensor based on one-dimensional photonic crystals with a dielectric-superconducting pair defect

The temperature dependence of the defect mode in a one-dimensional dielectric photonic crystal with a dielectric-superconductor pair defect was theoretically investigated by simultaneously considering thermal expansion effect and thermal-optical effect. The pronounced difference in the defect properties of the photonic crystals with right-handed (RH) and left-handed (LH) positions of the superconducting (SC) defect sublayer with respect to the dielectric defect sublayer is found. For above two kinds of structures, it is found that the defect mode shifts toward the higher wavelength region as the temperature of the structure increases. But for the LH SC defect structure, the central wavelength of the defect mode is observed in a nonlinear relation with temperature. For the RH SC defect structure, the central wavelength of defect modes changes linearly with temperature. The proposed structure may be used as a low temperature sensor. (C) 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.