Controlling the flow of light with silicon nanostructures

Silicon is an important material for integrated photonics applications. High refractive index and transparency in the infrared region makes it an ideal platform to implement nanostructures for novel optical devices. We fabricated silicon photonic crystals and experimentally demonstrated negative refraction and self-collimation. We also used heterodyne near-field scanning optical microscope to directly visualize the anomalous wavefronts. When the periodicity is much smaller than wavelength, silicon photonic crystal can be described by the effective medium theory. By engineering effective refractive index with silicon nanorod size, we demonstrated an all-dielectric cloak structure which can hide objects in front of a highly reflecting plane. The work discussed in this review shows the powerful design flexibility and versatility of silicon nanostructures. 2 μm 2D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation of the timeaveraged field modulus for TM polarization c © 2009 by Astro Ltd. Published exclusively by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA Controlling the flow of light with silicon nanostructures