Non-linear Photonic Crystals and their Applications: A Review

Abstract

The nonlinear photonic crystals (NLPCs) are periodic material structures in which nonlinear materials are used for photonic structure formation. In nonlinear photonic crystals, the optical response mainly depends on the intensity of the light beam that propagates through the photonic crystal. These structures show new optical properties with improved or enhanced or new functionalities that cannot be observed in linear photonic crystals. In addition to this, using nonlinear materials in photonic crystal formation can offer additional control of the response in devices based on nonlinear photonic crystals. Therefore, nonlinear photonic crystals are at the forefront in optics research.  In this paper, recent research works and applications in the field of nonlinear photonic crystals are reviewed. Works related to trapping light inside the nonlinear 1-D photonic crystal, group velocity behavior, advancement in optical processes by storing light, generation of anomalous band gaps, fabrication of highly efficient and small size devices, design of sensor to detect liquid analytes, study of properties of nonlinear GeO₂ doped photonic crystal fiber, study of Kerr nonlinear photonic crystals, designing highly non-linear  photonic crystal based optical fiber made from polystyrene, supercontinuum generation, nonlinear photonic crystal fiber with circular air rings, optical limiters based on a photonic crystal with embedded nonlinear rods, generation of SH optical vortices, nonlinear photonic crystal asymmetric hybrid Fabry-Perot resonator, Bragg reflector based on strip waveguide were reviewed in this paper.