Holographic laser processing for three-dimensional photonic lattices

Abstract

This article describes a holographic laser-processing method for independently controlling the lattice symmetry and lattice constant in three-dimensional photonic lattices. With this approach, optical periodicity is created in lower dimensions and three-dimensional periodicity is obtained by a combination of several lower-dimensional periodic structures. The proposed holographic laser-processing method is compared with the standard four-beam technique. Examples of experimental demonstration achieved in photosensitive polymers are given. The article also introduces a multiphoton direct-writing technique for creating defect structures in lattices towards production of defect cavity-functionalized photonic crystal devices. It shows that all Bravais lattices can be produced by choosing proper incident vectors of laser beams. The lattice constant of the structure can be changed without distorting its lattice symmetry and lattice elements.