Photonics - Tuning holes in photonic-crystal nanocavities

Arising from: Y. Akahane, T. Asano, B.-S. Song & S. Noda Nature425, 944–947 (2003); Akahane et al. reply One challenge in photonics is strongly to confine light in small volumes in order to increase light–matter interaction. Akahane et al.1 propose a new concept for increasing the lifetime of this interaction, based on tailoring of the Fourier spectrum of cavity modes, which they believe is demonstrated by the surprising enhancement (roughly tenfold) of the quality factor Q of the cavity as a result of fine-tuning the mirror-hole geometry in a photonic-crystal nanocavity. Here we question the validity of their concept and argue that the improvement in Q is due to an increase in the impedance wave matching at the cavity edges and to a slow-wave effect. This alternative interpretation opens the way to new cavity designs.