We identify two physical mechanisms which drastically increase the Q/V factor of photonic crystal microcavities. Both mechanisms rely on a fine tuning the geometry of the holes around the cavity defect. The first mechanism relies on engineering the mirrors in order to reduce the out-of-plane far field radiation. The second mechanism is less intuitive and relies on a pure electromagnetism effect based on transient fields at the subwavelength scale, namely a recycling of the mirror losses by radiation modes. The recycling mechanism enables the design of high-performance microresonators with moderate requirements on the mirror reflectivity. Once the geometry around the defect is optimised, both mechanisms are shown to strongly impact the Q and the Purcell factors of the microcavity.

© 2004 Optical Society of America

1. E.M. Purcell, �??Spontaneous emission probabilities at radio frequencies�??, Phys. Rev. 69, 681 (1946)
2. H. Yokoyama and K. Ujihara, Spontaneous emission and laser oscillation in microcavities, (FL: CRC Press, 1995)
3. O.J. Painter, A. Husain, A. Scherer, J.D. O'Brien, I. Kim, P.D. Dapkus,�?? Room temperature photonic crystal defect lasers at near-infrared wavelengths in InGaAsP,�?? J. Lightwave Technol. 17, 2082-2088 (1999). [CrossRef]
4. S. Noda, A. Chutinan and M. Imada, �??Trapping and emission of photons by a single defect in a photonic bandgap structure,�?? Nature 407, 608-610 (2000). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
5. D. Peyrade, E. Silberstein, P. Lalanne, A. Talneau, Y. Chen, "Short Bragg mirrors with adiabatic modal conversion," Appl. Phys. Lett. 81, 829-831 (2002). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
6. A.S. Jugessur, P. Pottier, R.M. De La Rue, "One-dimensional periodic photonic crystal microcavity filters with transition mode-matching features, embedded in ridge waveguides," Electron. Lett. 39, 367-369 (2003). [CrossRef]
7. M. Palamaru and Ph. Lalanne, "Photonic crystal waveguides: out-of-plane losses and adiabatic modal conversion," Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 1466-69 (2001). [CrossRef]
8. Steven G. Johnson, Shanhui Fan, Attila Mekis and J. D. Joannopoulos, �??Multipole-cancellation mechanism for high- Q cavities in the absence of a complete photonic band gap,�?? Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 3388-00 (2001). [CrossRef]
9. J. Vuckovic, M. Loncar, H. Mabuchi and A. Scherer, "Design of photonic crystal microcavities for cavity QED," Phys. Rev. E 65, art. #016608 (2002).
10. K. Srinivasan, O. Painter, �??Momentum space design of high-Q photonic crystal optical cavities,�?? Opt. Express 10, 670-684 (2002), <a href="http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-10-15-670.">http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-10-15-670</a> [CrossRef] [PubMed]
11. Ph. Lalanne and J. P. Hugonin, "Bloch-wave engineering for high Q�??s, small V�??s microcavities," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 39, 1430-38 (2003) [CrossRef]
12. J.P. Zhang, D.Y. Chu, S.L. Wu, W.G. Bi, R.C. Tiberio, R.M. Joseph, A. Taflove, C.W. Tu, S.T. Ho, �??Nanofabrication of 1-D Photonic Bandgap Structures Along Photonic Wire,�?? IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 8, 491 (1996). [CrossRef]
13. J.S. Foresi, P.R. Villeneuve, J. Ferrera, E.R. Thoen, G. Steinmeyer, S. Fan, J.D. Joannopoulos, L.C. Kimerling, H.I. Smith and E.P. Ippen, �??Photonic-bandgap microcavities in optical waveguides,�?? Nature 390, 143 (1997). [CrossRef]
14. D.J. Ripin, K.Y. Lim, G.S. Petrich, P.R. Villeneuve, S. Fan, E.R. Thoen, J.D. Joannopoulos, E.P. Ippen and L.A. Kolodziejski, �??Photonic band gap airbridge microcavity resonances in GaAs/AlxOy waveguides,�?? J. Appl. Phys. 87, 1578-80 (2000). [CrossRef]
15. Ph. Lalanne and E. Silberstein, "Fourier-modal method applied to waveguide computational problems," Opt. Lett. 25, 1092-94 (2000). [CrossRef]
16. E. Silberstein, Ph. Lalanne, J.P. Hugonin and Q. Cao, "On the use of grating theory in integrated optics," J. Opt. Soc. Am. A. 18, 2865 (2001). [CrossRef]
17. J.P Bérenger, "A perfectly matched layer for the absorption of electromagnetic waves," J. Computational. Phys. 114, 185 (1994).
18. P. Benech and D. Khalil, "Rigorous spectral analysis of leaky structures: application to the prism coupling problem," Opt. Commun. 118, 220 (1995). [CrossRef]
19. Y. Akahane, T. Asano, B-S Song and S. Noda, �??High-Q photonic nanocavity in two-dimensional photonic crystal,�?? Nature 425, 944-47 (2003).
20. A.W. Snyder and J.D. Love, Optical Waveguide theory (Chapman and Hall, NY, 1983).

Appl. Phys. Lett.

• D. Peyrade, E. Silberstein, P. Lalanne, A. Talneau, Y. Chen, "Short Bragg mirrors with adiabatic modal conversion," Appl. Phys. Lett. 81, 829-831 (2002). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• M. Palamaru and Ph. Lalanne, "Photonic crystal waveguides: out-of-plane losses and adiabatic modal conversion," Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 1466-69 (2001). [CrossRef]
• Steven G. Johnson, Shanhui Fan, Attila Mekis and J. D. Joannopoulos, �??Multipole-cancellation mechanism for high- Q cavities in the absence of a complete photonic band gap,�?? Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 3388-00 (2001). [CrossRef]

Electron. Lett.

• A.S. Jugessur, P. Pottier, R.M. De La Rue, "One-dimensional periodic photonic crystal microcavity filters with transition mode-matching features, embedded in ridge waveguides," Electron. Lett. 39, 367-369 (2003). [CrossRef]

IEEE J. Quantum Electron.

• Ph. Lalanne and J. P. Hugonin, "Bloch-wave engineering for high Q�??s, small V�??s microcavities," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 39, 1430-38 (2003) [CrossRef]

IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett.

• J.P. Zhang, D.Y. Chu, S.L. Wu, W.G. Bi, R.C. Tiberio, R.M. Joseph, A. Taflove, C.W. Tu, S.T. Ho, �??Nanofabrication of 1-D Photonic Bandgap Structures Along Photonic Wire,�?? IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 8, 491 (1996). [CrossRef]

J. Appl. Phys.

• D.J. Ripin, K.Y. Lim, G.S. Petrich, P.R. Villeneuve, S. Fan, E.R. Thoen, J.D. Joannopoulos, E.P. Ippen and L.A. Kolodziejski, �??Photonic band gap airbridge microcavity resonances in GaAs/AlxOy waveguides,�?? J. Appl. Phys. 87, 1578-80 (2000). [CrossRef]

J. Computational. Phys.

• J.P Bérenger, "A perfectly matched layer for the absorption of electromagnetic waves," J. Computational. Phys. 114, 185 (1994).

J. Lightwave Technol.

• O.J. Painter, A. Husain, A. Scherer, J.D. O'Brien, I. Kim, P.D. Dapkus,�?? Room temperature photonic crystal defect lasers at near-infrared wavelengths in InGaAsP,�?? J. Lightwave Technol. 17, 2082-2088 (1999). [CrossRef]

J. Opt. Soc. Am A.

• E. Silberstein, Ph. Lalanne, J.P. Hugonin and Q. Cao, "On the use of grating theory in integrated optics," J. Opt. Soc. Am. A. 18, 2865 (2001). [CrossRef]

Nature

• J.S. Foresi, P.R. Villeneuve, J. Ferrera, E.R. Thoen, G. Steinmeyer, S. Fan, J.D. Joannopoulos, L.C. Kimerling, H.I. Smith and E.P. Ippen, �??Photonic-bandgap microcavities in optical waveguides,�?? Nature 390, 143 (1997). [CrossRef]
• S. Noda, A. Chutinan and M. Imada, �??Trapping and emission of photons by a single defect in a photonic bandgap structure,�?? Nature 407, 608-610 (2000). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• Y. Akahane, T. Asano, B-S Song and S. Noda, �??High-Q photonic nanocavity in two-dimensional photonic crystal,�?? Nature 425, 944-47 (2003).

Opt. Commun.

• P. Benech and D. Khalil, "Rigorous spectral analysis of leaky structures: application to the prism coupling problem," Opt. Commun. 118, 220 (1995). [CrossRef]

Opt. Express

• K. Srinivasan, O. Painter, �??Momentum space design of high-Q photonic crystal optical cavities,�?? Opt. Express 10, 670-684 (2002), <a href="http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-10-15-670.">http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-10-15-670</a> [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Opt. Lett.

• Ph. Lalanne and E. Silberstein, "Fourier-modal method applied to waveguide computational problems," Opt. Lett. 25, 1092-94 (2000). [CrossRef]

Phys. Rev.

• E.M. Purcell, �??Spontaneous emission probabilities at radio frequencies�??, Phys. Rev. 69, 681 (1946)

Phys. Rev. E

• J. Vuckovic, M. Loncar, H. Mabuchi and A. Scherer, "Design of photonic crystal microcavities for cavity QED," Phys. Rev. E 65, art. #016608 (2002).

Other

• H. Yokoyama and K. Ujihara, Spontaneous emission and laser oscillation in microcavities, (FL: CRC Press, 1995)
• A.W. Snyder and J.D. Love, Optical Waveguide theory (Chapman and Hall, NY, 1983).

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