Spectrally enhanced light emission from aperiodic photonic structures

Abstract

Light-emitting silicon-rich, SiNx∕SiO2 Thue-Morse (T-M) multilayer structures have been fabricated in order to investigate the generation and transmission of light in strongly aperiodic deterministic dielectrics. Photoluminescence and optical transmission data experimentally demonstrate the presence of emission enhancement effects occurring at wavelengths corresponding to multiple T-M resonance states. Emission enhancement effects by a factor of almost 6 with respect to homogeneous SiNx dielectrics have been experimentally measured, in good agreement with transfer matrix simulations. The unprecedented degree of structural flexibility of T-M systems can provide alternative routes towards the fabrication of optically active multiwavelength photonic devices.