Vol. 41, Issue 1, pp. 29-40 (2011)

Abstract

A new design of a broad angle photonic crystal polarization beam splitter (PhC-PBS) with frequency tunable index of refraction, i.e. varying from positive to negative, is presented. Designed PhC-PBS shows transition from right-handed medium (positive index medium) to left-handed medium (negative index medium) with change in normalized frequency from 0.437 to 0.516. The design description includes band structure calculations and equi-frequency contour (EFC) analysis, where direction of refraction is tuned by the frequency and thickness of a slab. The proposed PBS splits transverse electric (TE) polarization in negative direction and transverse magnetic (TM) polarization in positive direction for optical communication windows in the range of 1.31 μm and 1.55 μm. Finite difference time domain (FDTD) method is employed to evaluate left-handed, right-handed transmission and reflection characteristics. High transmission and extinction ratio at wide range of incident angles validate proposed design as an efficient and broad angle PBS based on tunable negative refraction. Demonstration of near- and far-field resonance patterns reveals that proposed structure has the high potential in the design and development of the multiple photonic device applications, i.e., highly directional optical antennas also.