Tuning beam power-splitting characteristics through modulating a photonic crystal slab’s output surface

Light-beam-splitting characteristics are theoretically and experimentally studied in 2D square-lattice photonic crystals (PhCs) with delicately designed and modulated output surfaces. Compared with the traditional branch-waveguide and self-collimation-type PhC splitters, our proposed structure can not only split the input light beam into different numbers of branches but also realize the adjustment of their relative light intensities in each branch. Moreover, the influence of a light beam's incident angle on both the output branch beams' relative intensity and propagation direction is investigated. This proposed light beam splitter is able to work within a broad frequency range, and the propagation directions of the output split beams can be modified with the incident beam's frequency. In addition, when the PhC device becomes thicker, a kind of light-beam-focusing phenomenon is observed. Advantageously, our light-beam-splitting device has no restriction as to the incident light beam's location and width, so it is much more convenient and practical for achieving optical connection with other functional devices in complicated, large-scale, all-optical integrated circuits.