Connected hexagonal photonic crystals with largest full band gap

A two-dimensional photonic crystal with a large full band gap has been designed, fabricated, and characterized. The photonic crystal design was based on a calculation using inverse iteration with multigrid acceleration. The fabrication of the photonic crystal on silicon was realized by the processes of electron-beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching. It was found that the hexagonal array of circular columns and rods has an optimal full photonic band gap. In addition, we show that a larger extraction of light from our designed photonic crystal can be obtained when compared with the frequently used photonic crystals reported previously. Our designed PC structure therefore should be very useful for creating highly efficient optoelectronic devices. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.