Tunable light absorption of graphene using topological interface states.

A tunable light absorption of graphene using topological interface states (TISs) is presented. The monolayer graphene is embedded in the interface of asymmetric topological photonic crystals (ATPCs). A strong absorption phenomenon occurs by the excitation of TISs. It is found that the absorption spectra are intensively dependent on the chemical potential of graphene and the periodic number of the ATPCs. Furthermore, the absorption can be rapidly switched in a slight variation of chemical potential, which is modulated by the applied gate voltage on graphene. This study not only opens up a new approach for enhancing light-monolayer graphene interactions, but also provides for practical applications in high absorption optoelectronic devices. This strong absorption phenomenon is different from those in Fabry-Perot resonators, nano-cavities photonic crystal, and traditional topological photonic crystals (TPCs).

Ultra-slow light in one-dimensional Cantor photonic crystals.

Ultra-slow light and complete transmission properties in one-dimensional Cantor photonic crystals are presented. In contrast to traditional dielectric photonic crystals, the proposed structure has large group delay, slower group velocity, and a high quality factor within the same layers and materials. This study shows that larger than 1 µs group delay and slower than 1 m/s group velocity are achieved in the fifth-order Cantor photonic crystal with 52.75 µm length. This ultra-slow-light structure is very promising for application in advanced slow-light devices. A high quality factor of 109 and multiband filters with complete transmission can also be obtained by using this approach.

Enhancement of thermal spin transfer torque by double-barrier magnetic tunnel junctions with a nonmagnetic metal spacer.

Enhancement of thermal spin transfer torque in a double-barrier magnetic tunnel junction with a nonmagnetic-metal spacer is proposed in this study. The results indicate that, given the same temperature difference, thermal spin transfer torque and charge current density for the proposed double barrier magnetic tunnel junction configuration can be approximately twice as much as that of the traditional single-barrier magnetic tunnel junctions. This enhancement can be attributed to the resonant tunneling mechanism in the double-barrier structure.

Extraordinary light absorptance in graphene superlattices.

Extraordinary absorption decrease in graphene superlattices in the visible range is presented. Due to competition between loss and resonant reflection at resonance, the absorption displays non-monotonic behavior. As the period number increases above a certain critical value, absorption decreases with the increase in the period number. This is in contrast to ordinary absorption for a non-resonant condition, which monotonically increases with the period number. Moreover, this extraordinary property can also be controlled by applying a gate voltage to graphene sheets. The results provide not only a new understanding of graphene physics but also an application in nanophotonics and optoelectronics.

High-order micro-ring resonator with perfect transmission using symmetrical Fibonacci structures.

A symmetrical Fibonacci micro-ring resonator (SFMR) has been presented to avoid the coupled resonator optical waveguide (CROW) bottle, which is a bottle-shaped distribution for high orders in transmission spectra. The SFMR features three advantages that improve filtering quality compared to that provided by traditional periodic micro-ring resonators. First, sharper resonances are obtained by eliminating the CROW bottle from the mini gaps that appear in the major-band region. Second, peaks with perfect transmission are always obtained without a radius and coupling modulation in the mini-band regions and major-band regions. Third, the full width at half-maximum of the band-edge peak decreases with the increasing generation order.

Sharp resonance with complete transmission in Thue-Morse microring resonators.

We present sharp resonances with complete transmission in the Thue-Morse microring resonator. The quasi-periodic structure attains a better quality of filtering than the traditional periodic structure. This includes the following: (i) the high-Q resonances with complete transmission are obtained in the transmission spectra, (ii) the maximum value of transmittance always remains 1 for an arbitrary proportion of two different radiuses in the major-band regions, and (iii) the complete transmission occurs for arbitrary coupling in the mini-band regions. Moreover, we propose an analytical method to predict the occurrences of resonance peaks in the mini-band regions based on the gap map.

Superradiant modes in resonant quasi-periodic double-period quantum wells.

This paper firstly proposes the existence of superradiant modes in resonant quasi-periodic double-period quantum wells (QWs), which has not been observed from analyzing the structure factor by traditional methods. Using the gap map method, the reflection spectra under the relevant conditions show that there are dips in the middle and the linewidth grows linearly, despite the dips, as the number of QWs increases, which is a direct demonstration of superradiance. It is also found that the relevant conditions are divided into three regions, each of which has a different width of bandgaps.

Twin extra-high photoluminescence in resonant double-period quantum wells.

Twin extra high photoluminescence (PL) in resonant quasi-periodic double-period quantum wells (DPQWs) for higher-generation orders is demonstrated. In the DPQW, the number of maxima in the maximum values of the PL intensity is two, which is different from other quasi-periodic quantum wells (QWs) and traditional periodic QWs. The maximum PL intensity in a DPQW is also stronger than that in a periodic QW under the anti-Bragg condition and that in a Fibonacci QW. Although the peaks of the squared electric field for the twin PL are both located near the QWs, their field profiles are distinct.

Localized modes in one-dimensional symmetric Thue-Morse quasicrystals.

We present occurrence of the strongly localized modes with high transmission in one dimensional symmetric Thue-Morse quasicrystals. This quasicrystal has some interesting properties, including (i) there are strongly localized modes in separated regions which are around odd semi-quarter-wave thickness of the system, (ii) both the frequency of localized mode and the thicknesses of the space layer to appear localized modes are variant for different generation orders of the system, and (iii) the sharpness of the resonant peaks in the transmission spectra increases as the generation order of the system increases.

Exciton photoluminescence in resonant quasi-periodic Thue-Morse quantum wells.

This Letter investigates exciton photoluminescence (PL) in resonant quasi-periodic Thue-Morse quantum wells (QWs). The results show that the PL properties of quasi-periodic Thue-Morse QWs are quite different from those of resonant Fibonacci QWs. The maximum and minimum PL intensities occur under the anti-Bragg and Bragg conditions, respectively. The maxima of the PL intensity gradually decline when the filling factor increases from 0.25 to 0.5. Accordingly, the squared electric field at the QWs decreases as the Thue-Morse QW deviates from the anti-Bragg condition.

Quasi-Bragg conditions in Thue-Morse dielectric multilayers.

The existence of quasi-Bragg conditions (QBCs) in Thue-Morse dielectric multilayers (TMDMs), based on high reflectance and large forbidden gap regions in its transmission spectra, is presented. In contrast to a single traditional Bragg condition (TBC) in periodic bilayers, there are three QBCs in TMDMs. The formula for each of these QBCs is derived. The results show that one of these QBCs just overlaps the TBC. However, a singular point with perfect transmission exists in this QBC at the quarter-wave stack, at which high reflection exists in the periodic bilayers.

High-Q filters with complete transmission by quasi-periodic dielectric multilayers.

A multiple narrow bandpass filter with both high Q factor and complete transmission using quasi-periodic Thue-Morse dielectric multilayers is proposed. The Q factor of the system increases exponentially with the generation order. Even though the Q factor of resonances increases as the generation order of the multilayers increases, these resonances are still complete resonances. The number of resonance peaks for the bandpass filter of the system also increases as the generation order increases. These resonance peaks have a multifractal distribution throughout the frequency range, which is different from that in traditional periodical multilayers.

Strong photoluminescence emission from resonant Fibonacci quantum wells.

Strong photoluminescence (PL) emission from a resonant Fibonacci quantum well (FQW) is demonstrated. The maximum PL intensity in the FQW is significantly stronger than that in a periodic QW under the Bragg or anti-Bragg conditions. Moreover, the peaks of the squared electric field in the FQW are located very near each of the QWs. The optimal PL spectrum in the FQW has an asymmetrical form rather than the symmetrical one in the periodic case. The maximum PL intensity and the corresponding thickness filling factor in the FQW become greater with increasing generation order.

Effective Bragg conditions in a one-dimensional quasicrystal.

We present occurrence of the effective Bragg conditions with wide gapwidth and high reflectance in a Fibonacci superlattice, which is a typical one-dimensional quasicrystal. In the Fibonacci material, the number of effective Bragg conditions is two rather than one which appears in traditional periodic structures. Based on the effective Bragg conditions, this study proposes existence of omnidirectional, wideband and high reflectance in the quasiperiodic materials analogous to that in traditional materials.

Simple expressions for the maximum omnidirectional bandgap of bilayer photonic crystals.

We propose three dimensionless approximate expressions to predict the thickness filling factor, gap center, and gap width of the maximum omnidirectional gap (MODG) for various refractive indices in one-dimensional photonic crystals. These expressions are simple and do not include trigonometric or inverse trigonometric functions. It is easy to obtain the MODG from given refractive indices but also to estimate the refractive indices from the MODG based on the results.

Calculation of electronic surface states in superlattices via graph formulations.

We propose a graph method for the analysis of electronic surface states in a complex basis superlattice terminated by surface with a multilayer clad. Using topology theory, we frame an energy equation for calculating the surface modes based on a graph model. Compared to the traditional methods, the present method does not have the problem of numerical instability for finding out the surface states of the superlattices. The other advantage is that the localized states are directly solved by the present method without spurious solutions, which usually exist in the solutions obtained by traditional methods. Numerical examples show removal of the spurious solutions by traditional methods may cause numerically instable and incorrect results.

Electronic minibands in complex basis superlattices: a numerically stable calculation.

A numerically stable method for accurately determining the energy minibands of superlattices with arbitrary numbers of layers per cell is presented. Using a graph model with tangent and secant functions, we derive a set of concise and closed-form miniband edge equations for determining the miniband structure using topology theory. With the present method, it is not necessary to calculate the cosine of the Bloch phase, which may show a numerical overflow in calculation. Numerical results show that use of the miniband edge equations has better numerical stability than traditional methods in calculating the minibands of complex basis superlattices.