Photonic Crystal Slabs for Resonant Photodetection in Quantum Wells

We present a photonic crystal slab (PCS) photodetector, designed for resonant absorption of infrared light in quantum wells. With the PCS it is possible to enhance the absorption efficiency by increasing photon lifetime in the detector active region. To design the optical properties of the device we simulate the PCS photonic band structure with the two-dimensional (2D) revised plane wave expansion method. Compared to an ideal 2D photonic crystal, the photonic bands in a PCS exhibit a blue-shift, caused by the finite slab thickness. This effect is modeled by introducing a slab effective refractive index. With this detector design, we are able to extend the usable temperature range by at least 30K compared to a standard quantum well photodetector.