Nonlinear optical tuning of a two-dimensional silicon photonic crystal -: art. no. 205110

We use the real (Kerr) and imaginary (two photon absorption) parts of a third order optical nonlinearity to tune the long (1.6 mum) and short wavelength (1.3 mum) band edges of a stop gap in a two-dimensional silicon photonic crystal. From pump-probe reflectivity experiments using 130 fs pulses, we observe that a 2 mum pulse induces optical tuning of the 1.3 mum edge via the Kerr effect whereas a 1.76 mum pulse induces tuning of the 1.6 mum band edge via both Kerr and Drude effects with the latter related to two-photon induced generation of free carriers with a lifetime of similar to900 ps.