Characterization of Waveguide Photonic Crystal Reflectors on Indium Phosphide Membranes

We present waveguide photonic crystal reflectors on the InP-membrane-on-silicon (IMOS) platform, and a method to accurately measure the reflectivity of those reflectors. The photonic crystal holes are patterned on a waveguide using electron-beam lithography and etched through the waveguiding layer to create a broadband distributed Bragg reflector. We show simulations of these reflectors and experimental results of fabricated devices, both showing a high, free-to-choose reflectivity, and high quality factor Fabry-Perot cavities. We experimentally show reflectivities higher than 95% for the reflectors and a quality factor as high as 15,911 +/- 511 for a Fabry-Perot cavity, using reflectors with a length of only 4 microns. For the first time, to our knowledge, two methods for measuring the reflectivity are used for characterization of on-chip reflectors to accurately determine the reflection. The first method is based on analysis of the transmission through a Fabry-Perot cavity, the second is based on a direct four-port measurement of the reflector. A systematic error is made in both methods, resulting in an upper and lower boundary for the actual reflection coefficient.