Anisotropy of light extraction from GaN two-dimensional photonic crystals

Abstract

Angular distribution of light diffracted out of the plane of two-dimensional photonic crystals ( PhC) has been studied in the azimuthal direction with a specially designed waveguide structure. The optical images of the light extraction patterns from the guided photoluminescence light are obtained with laser excitation in the center of the annual structure made on GaN multilayer. For increasing lattice constant, symmetric patterns with varying number of petals according to the symmetry of the PhC are observed. The appearance and disappearance of the petals can be explained using the Ewald construction in the reciprocal space. The dependence of light extraction on the lattice constant and orientation, and incident angle are investigated. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.