| In this dissertation, new types of optical filters based on guided-mode resonance (GMR) effect are studied theoretically and experimentally. These filters are implemented by combining diffraction gratings and waveguides. These filters exhibit high efficiency, narrow bandwidth, and polarization-dependent filter response. A design method to obtain low-sideband GMR filters is developed based on grating diffraction theory, effective medium theory, waveguide analysis, and thin-film optics. This method is applicable to layered periodic waveguide structures for both TE and TM polarizations and any angle of incidence. Numerous example filter designs based on this method are presented. These devices exhibit spectral characteristics with high reflectance, low sidebands, and symmetrical lineshapes. A new type of low-sideband resonant filter concept is developed. These filters take advantage of half-wavelength absentee layers and Brewster effects. This concept is experimentally verified using a double-layer periodic waveguide. Under TM-polarized wave incident near the Brewster angle, the filter exhibits 94% experimental peak efficiency with sidebands below 0.6% over 100 nm range. A model for analyzing diffraction of Gaussian beams by periodic waveguides is developed and applied to characterize the resonance effects pertinent to finite beams. Many new results on the relationship between the structural parameters of the resonance element, efficiency, and beam size are presented. In particular, this Gaussian beam analysis shows that narrowband GMR filters incorporating an additional first-order grating significantly improve the resonance efficiencies of finite incident beams. A GMR filter exhibiting a record-high efficiency (98%) is experimentally demonstrated. Using this filter, the GMR laser mirror concept is demonstrated with a dye laser system. On replacing the output coupler by the resonant element, the dye laser produces polarized light with the wavelength and linewidth selected by the resonant mirror. A new class of vertical-cavity lasers incorporating GMR mirrors is invented; the resonance effect provides single mode operation and reduced mirror reflectivity requirement. |
