Apodized structures for the integration of defect sites into photonic lattices

Boguslawski M., Kelberer A., Rose P., Denz C.

Abstract

We introduce a versatile concept to optically induce photonic structures of local refractive index modulations as well as photonic lattices holding single defect sites. For a given structure, we develop a set of nondiffracting beams obtained by fractionalizing the corresponding spatial spectrum. By combining this set in a multiplexing procedure, we achieve an incoherent combination of all individual structures of the set resulting in a locally addressable refractive index manipulation. We exemplarily present experimental results for apodized, meaning locally confined index changes in a photorefractive crystal resembling a sixfold and a circular symmetric structure. By an additional multiplexing step, we furthermore create periodic photonic lattices featuring embedded defects.