Thermo‐tunable defect mode in one dimensional photonic structure based on grooved silicon and liquid crystal

Abstract A composite 1D photonic structure with defect was designed, fabricated by wet anisotropic etching of (110)‐oriented silicon and filled with liquid crystal. The polarized reflection spectra of the second‐order stop band with defect mode have been registered by means of FTIR microscopy. The thermo‐optical effect in the photonic structure due to phase transition in liquid crystal has been demonstrated in the spectral region of 8.5 µm. The relative shift of the defect mode peak was found experimentally to be 2.0% compared to 3.1% as predicted by calculation. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)