Angular and polarization properties of a photonic crystal slab mirror

It was recently demonstrated that a photonic crystal slab can function as a mirror for externally incident light along a normal direction with near-complete reflectivity over a broad wavelength range. We analyze the angular and polarization properties of such photonic crystal slab mirror, and show such reflectivity occurs over a sizable angular range for both polarizations. We also show that such mirror can be designed to reflect one polarization completely, while allowing 100% transmission for the other polarization, thus behaving as a polarization splitter with a complete contrast. The theoretical analysis is validated by comparing with experimental measurements. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.