All-chalcogenide middle infrared dielectric reflector and filter

Abstract We have fabricated a dielectric reflector and a passband filter, both with first order photonic bandgaps in the middle-infrared region around λ = 4 μm. The devices were made from alternating amorphous Ge 25 S 75 and Ge 15 Te 85 chalcogenide films with high transparency in the middle infrared region stacked in multilayers. Due to high thickness accuracy and periodicity of prepared multilayers we also observed second order photonic bandgaps at λ ~ 1.4 μm. The experimental data were in good agreement with theoretical predictions. The work focused on investigation of compositional homogeneity, surface roughness, thermal and optical properties of individual amorphous Ge 25 S 75 and Ge 15 Te 85 films. We confirmed chalcogenide materials as being of suitable choice for designing middle-infrared quarter wave stack devices. FT-IR reflectance spectra confirmed occurrence of 99.4% stopband near λ = 4 μm for fabricated reflector and narrow ~ 50% passband of prepared filter near λ = 3.934 μm.