Dimerized high contrast gratings

Abstract Metasurfaces and planar photonic crystals are two classes of subwavelength diffractive optical devices offering novel functionalities. The former employ independently operating subwavelength “meta‐units” as their building blocks, while the latter exploit the collective response of many periodic building blocks. High contrast gratings (HCGs) are an example of one‐dimensional (1D) planar photonic crystals with large refractive index contrast, exhibiting large in‐plane scattering even with a limited number of grating periods. They are best known for their broadband features. Low contrast gratings (LCGs) are known for their control over sharp spectral features but require many periods due to small in‐plane scattering. We explore a class of symmetry‐broken HCGs called dimerized high contrast gratings (DHCGs), which have a period‐doubling perturbation applied. DHCGs support modes accessible by free‐space illumination with a long, controllable photon lifetime (inversely proportional to the magnitude of the perturbation) and reduced lateral energy divergence (confined by the high index contrast of the grating). We catalogue and clarify the resonant modes introduced by the dimerizing perturbation in 1D DHCGs and briefly explore the increased in‐plane scattering present in two‐dimensional (2D) DHCGs. We introduce an approach maximizing lateral localization by band structure engineering in the unperturbed HCG and using the dimerizing perturbation to generate sharp spectral features in devices with small footprint. We confirm the simultaneous control of photon lifetime and lateral localization with full‐wave simulations of finite‐sized DHCGs. We conclude by numerically demonstrating two compact devices (an optical modulator and a refractive index sensor) benefitting from the unique design freedoms of DHCGs.