Diffraction-less propagation beyond the sub-wavelength regime: a new type of nanophotonic waveguide

Abstract

Sub-wavelength grating (SWG) metamaterials have garnered a great interest for their singular capability to shape the propagation of light. However, practical SWG implementations are limited by fabrication constraints, such as minimum feature size. Here, we present a new nanophotonic waveguide grating concept that exploits phase-matching engineering to suppress diffraction effects for a period three times larger than those with SWG approaches. This long-period grating not only facilitates fabrication, but also enables a new diffraction-less regime with additional degrees of freedom to control light propagation. More specifically, the proposed phase-matching engineering enables selective diffraction suppression, providing new tools to shape propagation in the grating. We harness this flexible diffraction control to yield single-mode propagation in, otherwise, highly multimode waveguides, and to implement Bragg filters that combine highly-diffractive and diffraction-less regions to dramatically increase light rejection. Capitalizing on this new concept, we experimentally demonstrate a Si membrane Bragg filter with record rejection value exceeding 60 dB. These results demonstrate the potential of the proposed long-period grating for the engineering of diffraction in nanophotonic waveguides and pave the way for the development of a new generation of high-performance Si photonics devices.