Numerical simulation of nonlinear properties of fullerene-containing one-dimensional photonic crystal

A model of interaction between a one-dimensional photonic crystal (PC) containing a defect (nonlinear optical layer of C 60 fullerene) and radiation with a wavelength λ 0 = 1064 nm under steady-state conditions has been considered. This structure is a Fabry-Perot microcavity: a fullerene layer (with a thickness multiple of λ 0 /2) is placed between the interference mirrors formed by alternating layers λ 0 /4 thick. The PC under consideration ( 1 ) has a narrow transmission band in the vicinity of λ 0 against the background of a relatively wide 100%-reflection band (photonic band gap) in the linear mode and ( 2 ) provides multiple amplification of the radiation intensity in the intermediate layer with respect to the external radiation intensity. Since C 60 fullerene exhibits a significant optical Kerr nonlinearity, the optical thickness of the intermediate layer under irradiation deviates from the value multiple of λ 0 /2; as a result, 100% transmission for λ 0 changes to almost 100% reflection at a certain radiation intensity. Thus, this structure behaves as a peculiar optical limiter.