Optimizing the spectral efficiency of photonic quantum well structures

One can construct photonic single quantum well structures by sandwiching a homogeneous medium slab as a defect between two symmetrical photonic crystals (PCs). It is shown that the number of observed resonant peaks increases with increasing slab thickness. It is found that while the slab is composed of alternatively stacked step-index films, the frequencies of these resonant peaks can be adjusted finely by changing the film thickness properly. In this case, the frequency and frequency interval of confined states can be tuned accurately, and the spectral efficiency can be greatly enhanced without increasing the volume of optical devices. Numerical simulation is based on the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method.