SCIENCE ADVANCES | RESEARCH ARTICLE

PHYSICS Copyright © 2018

The Authors, some

Experimental realization of deep-subwavelength rights reserved;

exclusive licensee
confinement in dielectric optical resonators American Association
for the Advancement
of Science. No claim to
Shuren Hu1*, Marwan Khater2, Rafael Salas-Montiel3, Ernst Kratschmer2, Sebastian Engelmann2, original U.S. Government
William M. J. Green2, Sharon M. Weiss1,4* Works. Distributed
under a Creative
The ability to highly localize light with strong electric field enhancement is critical for enabling higher-efficiency Commons Attribution
solar cells, light sources, and modulators. While deep-subwavelength modes can be realized with plasmonic resonators, NonCommercial
large losses in these metal structures preclude most practical applications. We developed an alternative approach to License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).
achieving subwavelength localization of the electric and displacement fields that is not accompanied by inhibitive losses.
We experimentally demonstrate a dielectric bowtie photonic crystal structure that supports mode volumes com-
mensurate with plasmonic elements and quality factors that reveal ultralow losses. Our approach opens the door to
the extremely strong light-matter interaction regime with, simultaneously incorporating both an ultralow mode vol-
ume and an ultrahigh quality factor, that had remained elusive in optical resonators.

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INTRODUCTION subwavelength dielectric nanoparticles is incapable of providing tem-
Light-matter interaction in an optical resonator is enhanced through poral confinement (17–19).
two confinement mechanisms: (i) temporal confinement, which is the Historically, low-loss dielectric structures, such as interferometers
photon cavity lifetime and is characterized by the quality factor (Q), and and ring resonators, have been the building blocks of photonic tech-
(ii) spatial confinement, which is the ability to localize light into a tightly nologies, but they are diffraction-limited and are therefore unable to
confined space and is characterized by the modal volume (Vm). Here, focus light below l/2nd, where nd is the refractive index of the dielectric
the traditional definition of mode volume (Vm) is considered using material in which the optical mode is confined. Photonic crystals have
Eq. 1 (where E is the electric field and e is the permittivity), which is provided the best confinement in lossless dielectric materials to date
most strongly scaled by peak electric field energy and is most relevant (20). Typical photonic crystals use a simple unit cell geometry—circles
for applications relying on Purcell enhancement and strongly enhanced or rectangles (21–23)—and have a Vm ~ 1 (l/nd)3. Slotted photonic
nonlinear optical processes crystal cavities can further squeeze light into a nanoscale low-index
region by designing an abrupt index discontinuity along the electric field

Vm ¼
∫eE dV
2
ð1Þ
polarization direction. Slotted photonic crystal cavities reduce the Vm to
~0.01 (l/nair)3, almost two orders of magnitude lower than traditional
maxðeE2 Þ photonic crystal cavities (24, 25). However, it is difficult to achieve deeper
subwavelength confinement via a slot configuration alone. In addition,
Simultaneously achieving high confinement in both categories because slotted photonic structures inherently confine cavity modes with-
has been a long-time pursuit in nanophotonics research and holds in a low-index region, they are not suitable for applications requiring
the promise for revolutionary advances in generating, modulating, strong light-matter interaction in high-index materials, such as silicon
and detecting light, including higher-efficiency light sources (1–4) or many highly nonlinear optical materials.
and solar cells (5–8), as well as faster and lower power consumption While spatial localization of photons typically occurs due to a single
optical switches and modulators (9–13). Plasmonic and metal-based physical mechanism, such as total internal reflection in waveguides and
metamaterial structures are capable of concentrating light into deep- photonic bandgap confinement in photonic crystals, it is apparent
subwavelength volumes [that is, mode volume = Vm ~ 10−3 (l/nair)3] by from previous work that a second level of spatial localization is possi-
accessing a surface plasmon resonance (6, 14, 15). However, resistive ble (6, 15, 24–26). In the case of slotted photonic crystal waveguides,
heating losses lead to poor temporal confinement (that is, quality light is first confined in the dielectric mode by the photonic bandgap
factor = Q ~ 10) and prohibit the realization of practical devices that effect such that light is spatially localized in the dielectric region be-
require propagation of energy (16). Recent work replacing metals with tween the lattice holes. Then, introduction of an air slot that cuts
all-dielectric materials has led to encouraging progress for enhanced through the dielectric region further localizes the light within this
spatial light localization through scattering in high-index dielectric air slot due to electromagnetic boundary conditions. Our previously
nanoparticles, but the lack of an intrinsic confinement mechanism reported theoretical study suggests that this two-step light confine-
within these dielectric structures has prevented light concentration on ment effect can be best exploited to achieve low mode volume by using
par with plasmonics. Furthermore, the scattering mechanism in these subwavelength modifications of the photonic crystal lattice holes rather
than the dielectric region between lattice holes (26). In that study, light is
1
first confined in the air mode by the photonic bandgap effect such that
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
37235, USA. 2IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, 1101 Kitchawan Road, York-
light is spatially localized inside the lattice air holes. Then, a bowtie-
town Heights, NY 10598, USA. 3Laboratoire de Nanotechnologie et d’Instrumentation shaped subwavelength dielectric inclusion added to the lattice holes
Optique, Institut Charles Delaunay CNRS-UMR 6281, Université de Technologie de enables redistribution of the optical mode to the tips of the bowtie as
Troyes, Troyes 10004, France. 4Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer a result of electromagnetic boundary conditions. The two-step light lo-
Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] (S.H.); sharon.weiss@vanderbilt. calization process in photonic crystals preserves the high-Q nature of
edu (S.M.W.) the photonic crystal cavity. A later theoretical study also found that a

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SCIENCE ADVANCES | RESEARCH ARTICLE

bowtie-shaped subwavelength dielectric inclusion in the center of a and then further localized to the tips of the dielectric bowtie within the
slotted photonic crystal nanobeam with a 1-nm air gap between the air hole region. The band diagram in Fig. 2B shows that the air mode
bowtie tips enables extremely high Q/Vm values (27). Here, we intro- of the bowtie photonic crystal cavity unit cell lies within the mode
duce design improvements to bowtie-shaped photonic crystal unit cells gap of the mirror unit cells, providing the requisite confinement
that enable additional mode confinement in the out-of-plane direction for the cavity mode. The wavelength of the cavity air mode is ap-
accompanied by a commensurate increase in the peak electric field proximately 1570 nm at the band edge [kx = 0.5(2p/a)]. As is the case
strength, and we experimentally demonstrate a bowtie photonic crystal for all one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal cavities, the Q factor of
cavity with a loaded Q factor on the order of 105 and record deep- the bowtie photonic crystal cavity is governed in large part by the
subwavelength mode confinement in silicon [Vm ~ 10−3 (l/nSi)3] band gap tapering from the cavity to mirror unit cells. We choose to
that is verified by optical near-field measurements. This extreme transition between the center and mirror unit cells in a quadratic fash-
light concentration is on par with plasmonic resonators, yet the low-loss ion, similar to the approach followed in other high-Q photonic crystal
dielectric material allows a concurrent ultrahigh Q factor (26). designs (21–23).
Figure 2 (C and D) shows the top and side view profiles of the
optical mode in the center cavity unit cell, and the electric energy
RESULTS (proportional to ɛE2) across the bowtie photonic crystal cavity is shown
Bowtie photonic crystal cavity design in Fig. 2 (E and F) and fig. S2 (A and B). We note that, because the
To achieve improved out-of-plane modal confinement in the bowtie dimensions of the bowtie photonic crystal are the same for all
unit cell compared to our previous design of a bowtie photonic crystal, simulations, the electric energy is directly proportional to electric

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a thickness modulation is added in the bowtie tip region to form a energy density. In this simulation, there are 20 tapering unit cells
v-groove cross-sectional profile that is experimentally realizable. between the central cavity unit cell and the 10 mirror unit cells on
Figure 1 compares the energy distribution in the v-groove bowtie unit each side of the cavity; not all unit cells are shown in the figures.
cell to a traditional circular unit cell with and without an air slot. The The mode is highly confined between the bowtie tips in the central
extreme light localization at the bowtie tips leads to an 80-fold increase cavity unit cell (fig. S2, C and D) and decays gradually into the mirror
in the peak electric field amplitude compared to the circular unit cell segments, giving a Gaussian-shaped electric energy profile that mini-
and an eightfold increase compared to the slotted unit cell. mizes radiation losses (fig. S2E). At the resonance wavelength of l =
A silicon photonic crystal cavity is designed using the bowtie-shaped 1561.12 nm, the simulated Q factor is 6.55 × 106. The Vm is calculated
unit cell with the v-groove by slowly varying the radius of the unit cell, to be 6.09 × 10−4 mm3 using Eq. 1. Given the small dimensions of the
as shown in Fig. 2A. Because the dielectric bowtie element is inside the bowtie tip, the mode extends partially in air and partially in silicon.
envelope of a traditional air hole, the photonic crystal is designed to Hence, the normalized mode volume should fall between that of the
confine the air mode such that light is localized into the air hole region mode volume normalized to the wavelength in silicon [Vm = 6.7 ×
10−3 (l/nSi)3] and the mode volume normalized to the wavelength in
air [Vm = 1.6 × 10−4 (l/nair)3]. This mode volume is about two orders
of magnitude smaller than those of other photonic crystal cavities, as
shown in table S1 (22–24, 28, 29).

Fabricated bowtie photonic crystal cavity and measured

Q factor
Figure 3A shows a scanning electronic microscope (SEM) image of
the fabricated bowtie photonic crystal with 20 tapering unit cells
and 10 mirror unit cells on each side of the central cavity unit cell.
The width of the bowtie tip connection is estimated to be approximately
12 nm (Fig. 3B). Given that there are only a few pixels comprising
the bowtie tip, this value has a relatively large error bar of ±5 nm.
The bowtie angle is estimated to be approximately 57°. The radii of
center and mirror unit cells are measured to be 147 and 190 nm,
respectively. The width of waveguide is measured to be 691 nm.
Figure 3C shows a titled SEM image that reveals the v-shaped struc-
ture at the bowtie tip; the unit cells shown in this image are from a
Fig. 1. Comparison of light concentration in different photonic crystal unit cells. photonic crystal fabricated by the same process as the one in Fig. 3A
(A and B) Traditional circular unit cell of a photonic crystal and its electric energy but released from the oxide substrate using a buffered hydrofluoric
profile at the dielectric mode band edge. (C and D) Slotted photonic crystal unit acid etch. Transmission measurements carried out on the bowtie pho-
cell and its electric energy profile at the dielectric band edge. (E and F) Bowtie tonic crystal show that the fundamental mode at lr = 1578.85 nm
photonic crystal unit cell and its electric energy profile at the air band edge. The
has a loaded Q of approximately 1 × 105 (Fig. 3D). The modes
tip of the v-groove is modeled to extend down to the middle of the silicon slab.
supported by the photonic crystal are located near the short wavelength
(G) 3D profile of the mode in the bowtie unit cell showing the electric energy
distribution. All profiles are taken at the middle of the silicon slab. All color maps
band edge (~1520 nm), which is consistent with design (Figs. 2B and
are scaled according to the minimum and maximum electrical energy values of 3D). The transmission intensity of the resonance peaks is low com-
each individual unit cell. The maximum electric field amplitude in each unit cell pared to that of the band edge (fig. S3) due to the high mirror con-
scales as follows: traditional circular unit cell = 1 (normalized), slotted unit cell = 10, finement in the cavity. We anticipate that higher Q resonances can
bowtie unit cell = 80. be designed and measured by using alternate coupling techniques

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Fig. 2. Design of silicon photonic crystal using a bowtie-shaped unit cell. (A) The cavity is formed with a center unit cell of 150 nm radius and mirror unit cells of 187 nm radii
on both sides of the cavity. The radius is gradually tapered from the center to the mirror segments. The photonic crystal lattice spacing is a = 450 nm, and the width of the
waveguide is 700 nm. The structure is designed with a 220-nm silicon device layer and a 2-mm-thick buried oxide layer. (B) Optical band structures of the cavity unit cell (red curve)
and mirror unit cell (blue curve). (C) Top view (xy plane) and (D) cross-sectional view (yz plane) schematics and associated air band edge electrical energy in the center unit
cell. (E) Log plot of the photonic crystal cavity electric energy distribution at the resonance wavelength in the xy plane at z = 0 (v-groove tip). (F) Log plot of the photonic crystal
cavity electric energy distribution at the resonance wavelength in the xz plane at y = 0 (bowtie tip). Figure S2 (A and B) shows the same mode profiles using a linear scale.

Fig. 3. Transmission of fabricated bowtie photonic crystal. (A) SEM image of the bowtie photonic crystal. (B) Zoomed-in image of a single unit cell in the red box in
(A). (C) Tilted SEM image of an undercut bowtie photonic crystal revealing the out-of-plane profile. (D) Measured transmission spectrum. The fundamental mode has Q ~ 100,000
at l = 1578.85 nm. The second-order and third-order peaks are located at 1562.20 and 1546.96 nm, with Q factors of 21,800 and 5156, respectively. a.u., arbitrary units.

that allow light to be coupled directly into the cavity instead of first field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) to probe the resonance
passing through the mirror unit cells (for example, side coupling or mode. Considering the practical constraints of the NSOM system,
evanescent coupling from a fiber). the structure shown in Fig. 3 is not ideal for NSOM measurements
due to the narrow resonance linewidth (~15 pm) and low transmission
Near-field measurements intensity (~0.04). Accordingly, a bowtie photonic crystal is designed
To experimentally verify the simulated optical field distribution of and fabricated with reduced mirror confinement (five mirror unit cells
the bowtie photonic crystal resonators, we used apertureless near- on each side of the cavity) to increase both the linewidth (~50 pm)

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SCIENCE ADVANCES | RESEARCH ARTICLE

and transmission intensity (~0.2), as shown in fig. S4. Because the measured optical near-field mapping of the bowtie photonic crystal
mode is tightly confined in the cavity, the mode volume is not changed cavity, respectively. The shape of the bowties shown in Fig. 4B is
by reducing the number of mirror unit cells (Vm = 6.09 × 10−4 mm3 distorted due to the resolution limit of the AFM mode of the NSOM
for five mirror unit cells). Consequently, conclusions drawn from when measuring bowtie features that reside below the surface of the
NSOM measurements on the five-mirror unit cell bowtie photonic sample using a tapping mode above the surface of the sample. The
crystal are also applicable to the higher Q cavities with additional SEM image shown in the inset of Fig. 4B reveals the actual shape of
mirror unit cells. The NSOM operates in a tapping mode in which one of the bowtie unit cells in this sample. The measured electric
the tip oscillates from 0 to 30 nm above the sample surface. There- energy (Fig. 4C) is confined at the bowtie tips, in agreement with
fore, the near field measured by the NSOM does not directly cor- the simulated electric energy (Fig. 4A) distribution in the cavity.
respond to the calculated mode volume within the bowtie (Fig. 2E). Figure 4 (D and E) shows the measured electric energy profiles
To correlate experiment and simulation, we simulate the electric along x and y slices of the central unit cell. We identify the silicon
energy localization in the central unit cell of bowtie photonic crystal region as the shaded area in Fig. 4 (D and E), based on AFM mea-
at 15 nm above the silicon surface as an estimate of the expected av- surements (Fig. 4, D and E, dotted line). The simulated electric
erage scattering field that can be detected by the NSOM (Fig. 4A). The energy profiles are shown by the blue curves in Fig. 4 (D and E).
calculated size of the electric energy localization, which is esti- The NSOM-measured profile (red markers) along the y slice through
mated by the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the electric the center of the cavity shows a sharp tip of the field at the bowtie
energy distribution in the unit cell, linearly increases from the center, indicating a concentrated electric energy. The size is estimated
center of the silicon slab (fig. S5) and is estimated to be ~183 nm to be ~175 nm by considering the FWHM of the electric energy

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along the y direction and 143 nm along the x direction at a distance distribution in the central cavity unit cell, which is in agreement with
of 15 nm above the silicon surface. Figure 4 (B and C) shows the simulation. The NSOM-measured field profile along the x slice
atomic force microscope (AFM) topology and simultaneously through the center of the cavity has an FWHM of ~267 nm. We attribute

Fig. 4. Analysis of spatial confinement via NSOM measurements. (A) Schematic of bowtie photonic crystal cavity with overlay of simulated electric energy 15 nm
above the silicon surface, where the NSOM measures the scattered field. (B) AFM measurement and (C) corresponding electric energy distribution, as measured by
NSOM. The inset in (B) shows a higher-resolution SEM image of one of the bowtie unit cells from the measured cavity. (D and E) Simulated and NSOM-measured near-
field profile along the y direction and x direction, respectively, along with superimposed AFM line scan.

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the discrepancy between the experimental and simulation results to a Photonic crystal design
combination of the influence of the NSOM tip itself on the electric The photonic crystal tapering follows the quadratic tapering
energy distribution and to the fact that NSOM preferably detects the
Ez signal, while the photonic crystal is designed for transverse electric
2 !
(TE)–polarized light (that is, mainly Ey component). We note that i
ri ¼ r0 1þ ð2Þ
the measured dimensions of the electric energy localization along m
the x and y directions of the bowtie photonic crystal are within a
factor of 2 of those of plasmonic resonators measured using NSOM
where
systems, as shown in table S2 (14, 30, 31). Moreover, although the
field distribution for the bowtie photonic crystal and plasmonic bow-
ties is different, the calculated mode volume, which, in the case of the Nc
m ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð3Þ
photonic crystal, spans multiple unit cells, is nearly identical.
r0  1
rm

DISCUSSION In the above expressions, r0 and rm are the radii of the cavity and mirror
Our work demonstrates that a dielectric resonator can serve as a unit cells, respectively, and Nc is the number of taper unit cells on each
promising alternative to lossy metals for extreme light concentration side of the cavity. In our design, r0 = 150 nm, rm = 187 nm, Nc = 20, and
and manipulation. Further optimization of the design and fabrication there are 10 mirror unit cells on each side of the cavity. Transmission

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parameters may lead to bowtie photonic crystals with an even higher Q/ measurements become challenging for a larger number of taper unit
Vm ratio. We believe that our work provides two specific contributions cells or larger number of mirror unit cells as the intensity of the funda-
for future research. First, it showcases the power of combining sub- mental mode approaches the noise floor.
wavelength dielectric structure with photonic band theory. Engineering
the photonic bandgap overcomes the challenges encountered while Fabrication
confining optical modes in nanoscatterers, enabling the design of The photonic crystals were fabricated on 8-inch silicon-on-insulator
nanoscatterers that are able to precisely adjust the optical mode distri- wafers with a 220-nm device layer and 2-mm-thick buried oxide layer
butions at subwavelength scales. Second, we prove that it is possible in a (Soitec) using an electron beam lithography process on a Leica VB6-HR
single, low-loss structure to achieve a mode volume commensurate with 100kV system. We note that, to obtain the v-groove shape at the bowtie
plasmonic elements while maintaining a quality factor that is char- tip, a dose gradient was manually assigned to create a grayscale height
acteristic of traditional photonic crystal cavities. Such an unprecedented profile in the electron beam photoresist. After patterns were transferred
strong light-matter interaction platform can facilitate the advancement to the device layer through a reactive ion etch process, a second lithog-
of science in a broad range of applications, including low-power opto- raphy step was carried out to define an SU8 polymer mode coupler. The
electronics (1, 3, 4, 9–12), nonlinear optics (6, 13, 20), and quantum SU8 coupler was designed to be 3 mm wide and 2 mm thick to match the
optics (32, 33). optical mode of the lensed fiber tip.
To attain a high-resolution SEM image of the v-groove at the bowtie
tip center, an undercut process was performed to remove the buried
MATERIALS AND METHODS oxide layer on one of the bowtie photonic crystal samples. For the
Finite-difference time-domain simulations undercut procedure, an additional lithography step was carried out to
The numerical simulations presented in this study were carried out with open a window for the undercut region. The sample was soaked in buf-
three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) analysis fered oxide etchant (10:1) for 20 min to etch away approximately 1 mm
using commercial software, Lumerical FDTD (Lumerical Solutions of the buried oxide layer.
Inc.). The band structures and mode profiles of the unit cells in Fig. 2
were calculated using FDTD. The center xy plane of the silicon slab was Measurements
defined as the z = 0 plane, and the bowtie tip of the central unit cell was In preparation for optical measurements, samples were cleaved across
defined as the origin point x = 0, y = 0 in the paper. The photonic crystal each end of the bus waveguide, several millimeters away from the cen-
lattice spacing is a = 450 nm, and the width of the waveguide is 700 nm. tral device, and mounted on an XY positioning stage. Piezo-controlled
The radius of the center unit cell is 150 nm, and the radii of the mirror XYZ stages were used to position and couple light to/from polarization-
unit cells are 187 nm. The bowtie tip angle is designed to be 60°. The maintaining lensed fibers (OZ Optics Ltd.). A tunable continuous-wave
out-of-plane height of the bowtie tip center is defined to be half of the laser (Santec TSL-510) was used to perform passive transmission mea-
thickness of the silicon slab to be consistent with the dimensions of surements, using quasi-TE polarization, over the wavelength range of
the fabricated structures. The bowtie height is linearly tapered over 1500 to 1630 nm.
an in-plane distance equal to 75 nm such that the vertical angle is 34° For the optical near-field measurements, a high-quality etched
(see Figs. 2D and 3C). The mesh size within the photonic crystal lattice silicon AFM probe (Bruker TESPA-V2) with a nominal tip radius of
holes was chosen to be a uniform 4 nm per grid, while the remainder of 8 nm was put in intermittent contact at a frequency f0 near the surface
the simulation space is meshed by the Lumerical default conformal of the samples. The changes in the in-line transmission measurements
mesh. For the cavity simulation, symmetric boundary conditions were due to the intermittent perturbation of the optical mode by the AFM
applied along the x direction, and antisymmetric boundary conditions probe were recorded with a near-infrared high-sensitivity avalanche
were applied along the y direction to reduce the calculation time. The photodetector (APD module Hamamatsu C5460SPL) and demodu-
source was defined as a magnetic dipole Hz at the (225 nm, 0 nm, 0 nm) lated with a lock-in amplifier locked at a frequency f0. The transmitted
coordinate. signal is related to the amplitude squared of the local electric near field

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SCIENCE ADVANCES | RESEARCH ARTICLE

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Hu et al., Sci. Adv. 2018; 4 : eaat2355 24 August 2018 6 of 6

Experimental realization of deep-subwavelength confinement in dielectric optical resonators
Shuren Hu, Marwan Khater, Rafael Salas-Montiel, Ernst Kratschmer, Sebastian Engelmann, William M. J. Green and Sharon
M. Weiss

Sci Adv 4 (8), eaat2355.

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat2355

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