We experimentally study light self-trapping in triangular photonic lattices induced optically in nonlinear photorefractive crystals. We observe the formation of two-dimensional discrete and gap spatial solitons originating from the first and second bands of the linear transmission spectrum.

In this Letter, we propose defect-mode lasing from a one-dimensional asymmetric photonic structure with dye-doped nematic liquid crystal as a central defect layer. The local field intensity of the distinguished single defect mode at the overlapped photonic band edges is drastically enhanced by the asymmetric structure consisting of two distinct multilayer photonic crystals. With high density of...

We describe waveguides of photoluminescent silicon-rich silicon dioxide, which have been patterned by triangular two-dimensional ~2D! photonic crystals to give higher-order photonic bandgaps occurring within the luminescence band of the core material. Photonic crystal modification of the photoluminescence spectrum allows identification of angle-tuned photonic bandgaps, in close agreement with 2...

We show that the envelope of the diffraction efficiency of a two-dimensional photonic crystal can exhibit spectral regions of very small diffraction efficiency (,5310), while in other regions, the diffraction efficiency is near unity. The experimental results on higher bands of hexagonal, silicon-based photonic crystals agree well with corresponding numerical calculations and highlight the prom...

Herein we present a fast, reliable method for building nanoparticle-based 1D photonic crystals in which a periodic modulation of the refractive index is built by alternating different types of nanoparticles and by controlling the level of porosity of each layer. The versatility of the method is further confirmed by building up optically doped photonic crystals in which the opening of transmissi...

We report on the observation of self-alignment of nematic liquid crystals into colloidal photonic crystals, over distances much larger than the typical size of the voids between the spheres. We observe that the infiltrated structure possesses a unique optical axis that is determined by an intrinsic structural anisotropy of photonic crystal opals. We develop a simple model to describe this self-...

A direct observation of the photochemical switching between colloidal crystals with different lattice constants in a liquid-crystal (LC) emulsion is reported. Glycerol droplets introduced in a nematic liquid crystal form two-dimensional hexagonal colloidal crystal at the nematic-air interface with a lattice constant depending on the surface tension sigmaLCA. We dope an azobenzene derivative int...