Wavelength demultiplexer consisting of Photonic crystal superprism and superlens

Abstract

We propose a novel compact wavelength demultiplexer, for which two functions arising from the anomalous dispersion characteristics of photonic crystals are combined. One is the superprism that exhibits large angular dispersion and expansion of light beam. The other is the superlens used for the focusing of the expanded light beam. Theoretically, a high resolution of 0.4 nm will be realized in the 1.55 ?m wavelength range with device areas of 0.2 and 2.0 mm2, respectively, for available bandwidths of 3 and 35 nm. Also, a low insertion loss of less than 1 dB is expected by the optimization of input and output ends of the photonic crystals. The demultiplexing function is clearly demonstrated in finite-difference timedomain simulation.