Ultrahigh-Q photonic crystal nanocavities realized by the local width modulation of a line defect -: art. no. 041112

We propose an ultrahigh quality factor (Q) photonic crystal slab nanocavity created by the local width modulation of a line defect. We show numerically that this nanocavity has an intrinsic Q value of up to 7x10(7). Transmission measurements for fabricated Si photonic-crystal-slab nanocavities directly coupled to input/output waveguides have exhibited a loaded Q value of similar to 800 000. These theoretical and experimental Q values are very high for photonic crystal nanocavities. In addition, we demonstrate that simply shifting two holes away from a line defect is sufficient to achieve an ultrahigh Q value both theoretically and experimentally. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.