Efficient propagation of TM polarized light in photonic crystal components exhibiting band gaps for TE polarized light

We have investigated the properties of TM polarized light in planar photonic crystal waveguide structures, which exhibit photonic band gaps for TE polarized light. Straight and bent photonic crystal waveguides and couplers have been fabricated in silicon-on-insulator material and modelled using a 3D finite-difference-time-domain method. The simulated spectra are in excellent agreement with the experimental results, which show a propagation loss as low as 2.5 +/- 4 dB/mm around 1525 nm and bend losses at 2.9 +/- 0.2 dB for TM polarized light. We demonstrate a high coupling for TM polarized light in a simple photonic crystal coupler with a size of similar to20 mum x 20 mum. These promising features may open for the realization of ultra-compact photonic crystal components, which are easily integrated in optical communication networks. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America.