The properties of mid infrared surface modes at the interface of air and one dimensional ternary photonic crystal

In the present manuscript, theoretical design of truncated one dimensional ternary photonic crystal is proposed for analyzing the properties of transverse electric (TE) surface modes viz. band structures, its localization in photonic band gaps (PBGs), field profiles and energy carried by these modes. The periodicity of the structure (comparable to the wavelength of incident electromagnetic waves) is chosen as such the modes are localized in mid-infrared frequency domain (600cm(-1) to 1800cm(-1) or 5 mu m to 16 mu m). The dispersion relation of surface modes is derived by using continuity condition of tangential components of electric and magnetic fields and transfer matrix method. It is found that by varying the cap layer thickness (d(c)) and thickness of first layer (d(t)) of each unit cell, surface modes are either strongly (near center of PBG with decay length similar to 8.8 mu m) or weakly (near edge of PBG with decay length similar to 42.5 mu m) bounded to the interface. The energy carried by the surface modes along the interface plane is around 3.3 mJ while across the interface plane it is of the order of 10(-14). It has been proved that the material rich modes (similar to 2V/m) have high field enhancement compared to material deficient modes (similar to 1V/m). The study stresses on different aspects of the proposed model that can be sought for suitable practicable applications in mid-infrared photonics, especially in design of mid-infrared bio-chemical sensors, mid-infrared temperature sensors, waveguides, omnidirectional reflectors, optical filters, band edge lasers, multiplexers, mitigators, compensators, etc.

Automated summary

Theoretical design of truncated one dimensional ternary photonic crystal was proposed to analyze the properties of transverse electric surface modes. By varying the thickness of different layers, it was found that surface modes can be strongly or weakly bounded to the interface. The study emphasized the potential practical applications in mid-infrared photonics, such as bio-chemical sensors and optical filters.