Macroporous silicon photonic crystals at 1.55 µm

The limits of macroporous silicon etching are pushed a step further to obtain a complete photonic bandgap centred at 1.55 µm wavelength. A submicrometre period triangular photonic crystal of air holes is etched over a large area of silicon and is characterised by absolute reflection measurements for two propagation directions and both polarisations. The large area covered and the quality of the photonic crystal obtained demonstrate the feasibility of realising high density integrated devices at telecommunication wavelengths.