Flexible design of ultrahigh-Q microcavities in diamond-based photonic crystal slabs

We design extremely flexible ultrahigh-Q diamond-based double-heterostructure photonic crystal slab cavities by modifying the refractive index of the diamond. The refractive index changes needed for ultrahigh-Q cavities with Q similar to 10(7), are well within what can be achieved (Delta(n) similar to 0.02). The cavity modes have relatively small volumes V<2 (lambda/n)(3), making them ideal for cavity quantum electro-dynamic applications. Importantly for realistic fabrication, our design is flexible because the range of parameters, cavity length and the index changes, that enables an ultrahigh-Q is quite broad. Furthermore as the index modification is post-processed, an efficient technique to generate cavities around defect centres is achievable, improving prospects for defect-tolerant quantum architectures. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America