Dark-field imaging as a noninvasive method for characterization of whispering gallery modes in microdisk cavities.

Whispering gallery mode microdisk cavities fabricated by direct laser writing are studied using dark-field imaging and spectroscopy in the visible spectral range. Dark-field imaging allows us to directly visualize the spatial intensity distribution of whispering gallery modes. We extract their azimuthal and radial mode indices from dark-field images, and find the axial mode number from the dispersion relation. The scattering spectrum obtained in the confocal arrangement provides information on the density of optical states in the resonator. The proposed technique is a simple noninvasive way to characterize the optical properties of microdisk cavities.

Peculiarities of the band structure of multi-component photonic crystals with different dimensions.

In this work we offer a simple analytical method which allows us to determine and study the effects of the selective switching of photonic stop-bands in multi-component photonic crystals (Mc-PhCs) of any dimensionality. The calculations for Mc-PhCs with low dielectric contrast have been performed in the framework of the model based on the scattering form factor analysis. It has been shown that the effects of selective switching of photonic stop-bands predicted theoretically and found experimentally before in three-dimensional (3D) Mc-PhC have a general character and may be observed also in one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) Mc-PhCs. It is found that 1D, 2D and 3D Mc-PhCs demonstrate unexpectedly similar quasi-periodic behaviour of photonic stop-bands as a function of the reciprocal lattice vector. A proper choice of the structural and dielectric parameters can create a resonance photonic stop-band determining the Bragg wavelengths, to which a photonic crystal can never be transparent.

Fano resonance between Mie and Bragg scattering in photonic crystals.

We report the observation of a Fano resonance between continuum Mie scattering and a narrow Bragg band in synthetic opal photonic crystals. The resonance leads to a transmission spectrum exhibiting a Bragg dip with an asymmetric profile, which can be tunably reversed to a Bragg rise. The Fano asymmetry parameter is linked with the dielectric contrast between the permittivity of the filler and the specific value determined by the opal matrix. The existence of the Fano resonance is directly related to disorder due to nonuniformity of a-SiO2 opal spheres. The theoretical "quasi-3D" model produces results in excellent agreement with the experimental data.