Strong light confinement in a photonic amorphous diamond structure

Abstract

Formation of cavity modes in a recently found unique photonic structure “photonic amorphous diamond (PAD)” has been investigated by finite-difference time domain calculations. A well-confined monopole mode has been found to form when a rod is removed from the structure. The quality (Q) factor and mode volume (Vm) of such a cavity mode in PAD have been evaluated and compared with those in a conventional photonic crystal with a crystalline diamond structure. The two structures have shown nealy the same Q-factor and Vm, leading to the conclusion that strong light confinement is realizable in PAD as well as conventional photonic crystals.