Optical surface and defect states in light-induced photonic structures

San Francisco State University, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Abstract

Surface and defect states exist in a variety of systems that obey linear and nonlinear equations. In this RUI research project, new concepts and fundamental issues of wave propagation along surfaces and defects will be explored both experimentally and theoretically. The specific areas of investigation will include defect modes, defect-soliton interactions, nonlinear surface solitons, and Tamm- and Shockley-like surface states in biperiodic superlattice structures. Recently it has been suggested that the small refractive index variation induced as periodic arrays of evanescently coupled waveguides can be used for excitation of surface and defect states, but experimental demonstration in a two-dimensional configuration has been hampered by fabrication of such periodic structures with desired surfaces and defects. This project will be carried out in an optical setting of reconfigurable periodic structure using optically-induced photonic waveguide structures. The research will have direct impact on other areas of sciences, ranging from solid state physics to photonic crystals, and from hydrodynamics to atomic physics such as Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in periodic potentials. A major emphasis of this project is placed on mentoring undergraduate students, particularly those from the ethnically diverse San Francisco Bay Area population. A strong educational component of this work is that the research project will be used as a form of teaching as well as discovery, and the students will be actively involved in learning research methods and in sharing discoveries and interpretations. Thus, the broader impacts of this project lie in the integration of research and education through training of students in a fundamentally and technologically important area.