A high quality factor photonic crystal channel-drop filter with a linear gradient microcavity

Abstract:

We design a channel-drop filter (CDF) with a linear gradient microcavity in a two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal (PC). The model of three-port CDF with reflector is used to achieve high quality factor (Q-factor) and 100% channel-drop efficiency. The research indicates that adjusting the distance between reference plane and reflector can simultaneously influence the Q-factor due to coupling to a bus waveguide and the phase retardation occurring in the round trip between a microcavity and a reflector. The calculation results of 2D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method show that the designed filter can achieve the drop efficiency of 96.7% and ultra-high Q-factor with an ultra-small modal volume.