Tunable Photonic Crystals with Semiconducting Constituents

We propose that the photonic band structure (PBS) of semiconductor-based photonic crystals (PCs) can be made tunable if the free-carrier density is sufficiently high. In this case, the dielectric constant of the semiconductor, modeled as varepsilon(omega) = varepsilon(0)(1-omega(2)(p)/omega(2)), depends on the temperature T and on the impurity concentration N through the plasma frequency omega(p). Then the PBS is strongly T and N dependent; it is even possible to obliterate a photonic band gap. This is shown by calculating the 2D PBS for PCs that incorporate either intrinsic InSb or extrinsic Ge.