Guided mode analysis, and fabrication of a 2-dimensional visible photonic band structure confined within a planar semiconductor waveguide

In this paper, we present a graphical method for calculating the guided Bloch modes supported by a 2-dimensional photonic lattice etched into a planar waveguide structure. We combine a 3-dimensional plane wave analysis with standard waveguide theory to determine the broadband transmission characteristics of waveguiding PBG devices away from the primary band gap region, and demonstrate the suppression of normal waveguide modes within the band gap region. In addition, we demonstrate the successful fabrication of a waveguiding photonic band structure with a polarisation dependent band gap centred around 632.8 nm in the visible region of the spectrum. This nano-structure consists of a triangular array of air holes etched through the cladding and core of a silicon nitride waveguide.