Experimental investigation of layer-by-layer metallic photonic crystals

The authors have investigated the transmission properties and defect charac teristics of layer-by-layer metallic photonic crystals. Thay have demonstra ted experimentally that the metallicity gap of these crystals extends to an upper band-edge frequency, and no lower edge was detected down to 2 GHz, T he defect structures built around these crystals exhibited high transmissio n peak amplitudes (100%) and high Q factors (2250). The crystals with low f illing ratios (around 1-2%) were tested and were still found to possess met allic photonic crystal properties. These crystals exhibited high reflection rates within the metallicity gap and reasonable defect mode characteristic s. A power enhancement factor of 190 was measured for the electromagnetic ( EM) wave within planar cavity structures, by placing a monopole antenna ins ide the defect volume. These measurements show that detectors embedded insi de a metallic photonic crystal can be used as frequency selective resonant cavity enhanced (RCE) detectors with increased sensitivity and efficiency w hen compared to conventional detectors.