Two-dimensional photonic-crystal-based Fabry–Perot etalon

We demonstrate the design, fabrication, and characterization of a polycrystalline-silicon-based photonic crystal Fabry-Perot etalon, which is aimed to work in the mid-infrared wavelengths. The highly reflective mirrors required in a Fabry-Perot etalon are realized by freestanding polycrystalline-silicon-based photonic crystal membranes with etched circular air holes. A peak reflection of 96.4% is observed at 3.60 μm. We propose a monolithic CMOS-compatible fabrication process to configure two such photonic crystal mirrors to be in parallel to form a Fabry-Perot etalon; a filtered transmission centered at 3.51 μm is observed. The quality factor measured is around 300, which is significantly higher than in existing works. This creates the possibility of using such devices for high-resolution applications such as gas sensing and hyperspectral imaging.