Optical limiting in nonlinear photonic crystals

This study focuses on regular chains of coupled defects, which spread between the two interfaces of a photonic crystal (PC). If a frequency within a total gap of the PC is chosen, transmission is restricted to photons hopping along such chains. The lower the coupling to the environment the higher is the field enhancement within the individual cavities. Hence, the action of any nonlinearity can be greatly enhanced. It is shown that systems of coupled defects in PCs can be described by the same set of evolution equations, as it is used to model the response of other discrete systems as waveguide arrays or molecular chains.