Resonant and nonresonant transmission through waveguide bends in a planar photonic crystal

Abstract

We have measured the near-infrared transmission spectra of 60° bends defined in two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguides consisting of three missing rows. Two limit cases are studied: a basic nonresonant bend and a bend built around a resonant lozenge cavity, which is found to exhibit peaked transmission. Finite-difference-time-domain simulations show very good agreement with the data allowing general design issues for efficient bends to be discussed.