Properties of MgxZn1-xO nanowire photonic crystals

Abstract

We investigate the optical properties of two-dimensional periodic arrays of well-aligned MgxZn1-xO nanowires, i.e., MgxZn1-xO nanowire photonic crystals. The nanowire photonic crystal can exhibit a photonic band gap in the visible range. As the mole fraction of Mg, x, increases, the edge frequencies of the band gap increase and the band gap size decreases. The characteristics of relative band gap and vacant point defect mode are also studied with varying x. From the finite-difference time-domain simulations, we show that the light extraction from nanowires can be controlled by varying the distance between optically excited nanowires and a waveguide, and the mole fraction of Mg. Controlling the light extraction from nanostructures can be useful in the implementation of nanoscale light emitting devices. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.