Open AccessNear-field probing of slow Bloch modes on photonic crystals with a nanoantenna
Author(s) -
Than-Phong Vo,
Mathieu Mivelle,
Ségolène Callard,
Adel Rahmani,
Fadi Baida,
D. Charraut,
Ali Belarouci,
Dušan Nedeljković,
Christian Seassal,
Geoffrey W. Burr,
Thierry Grosjean
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.20.004124
Subject(s) - optics , near field scanning optical microscope , materials science , polarization (electrochemistry) , lasing threshold , near and far field , photonic crystal fiber , nanophotonics , photonic crystal , photonics , laser , optoelectronics , optical fiber , physics , optical microscope , scanning electron microscope , chemistry
We study the near-field probing of the slow Bloch laser mode of a photonic crystal by a bowtie nano-aperture (BNA) positioned at the end of a metal-coated fiber probe. We show that the BNA acts as a polarizing nanoprobe allowing us to extract information about the polarization of the near-field of the slow-light mode, without causing any significant perturbation of the lasing process. Near-field experiments reveal a spatial resolution better than λ/20 and a polarization ratio as strong as 110. We also demonstrate that the collection efficiency is two orders of magnitude larger for the BNA than for a 200 nm large circular aperture opened at the apex of the same metal-coated fiber tip. The BNA allows for overcoming one of the main limitations of SNOM linked to the well-known trade off between resolution and signal-to-noise ratio.