Two-dimensional AlGaAs photonic crystal air-bridge structure with defect waveguides for miniaturized planar light-wave circuit

An AlGaAs-based two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystal (PC) air-bridge structure with defect waveguides has been fabricated for an application to miniaturized planar lightwave circuits. Measured optical transmission characteristics showed a good agreement with theoretical band structure calculation for the sample without waveguides, while optical beam transmission through the waveguide was observed in the wavelength ranging around 1 /spl mu/m for the sample with waveguides.