1.5-μm-wavelength light guiding in waveguides in square-lattice-of-rod photonic crystal slab

We have experimentally demonstrated the guiding of light at a 1.5 mum wavelength in straight and 90degrees-bent line-defect waveguides in two-dimensional square-lattice-of-rods photonic crystal slabs. The light was guided by being confined in a row of the rods that were thinner than the surrounding ones. A new structural design to greatly facilitate their fabrication process without degrading the guiding property was used. The propagation loss measured for a 1.8-mm-straight waveguide was 4.8 dB/mm, which is small enough to allow us to proceed to integrated optical circuit application. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.