| Photonic crystals provide a tunable electromagnetic environment for controlling the interaction between light and matter. The main theme of this thesis concerns the development of technologies to control this interaction in planar photonic crystals.;In Chapter 2, we discuss the design and fabrication of photonic crystals. After discussing different design approaches, we describe a new semi-analytic way of photonic crystal design. Then we show a way to directly analyze fabricated nanophotonic structures to explain experiments and improve device processing.;In Chapters 3-4, we discuss quantum dot-embedded photonic crystal devices for classical and quantum information processing. We concentrate on individual quantum dots coupled to single a single cavity mode. We show that depending on the strength of this coupling, the dot's spontaneous emission rate can be modified by up to two orders of magnitude. We explain the results by theory and find agreement with simulations. Then, using a set of tools to fine-tune the interaction between quantum dots and cavities, we also demonstrate the strong coupling regime between single dots and photonic crystal cavities. We first probe the QD-cavity system by PL, which is incoherent, and then by a newly developed coherent. This technique permits a giant optical nonlinear response of the QD/cavity system, which in turn enables controlled phase shifts with single quantum dots and single photons. We also demonstrate photon-induced tunneling and blockade in this system. Finally, we demonstrate some early steps towards integrating single photon sources on multifunctional photonic crystal chips, an advance which represents a major step towards on-chip quantum networks. |
