We review our recent work on Yb-doped and hybrid-structured solid photonic bandgap fibers (Yb-HS-SPBGFs) for linearly-polarized fiber lasers oscillating in the small gain wavelength range from 1160 nm to 1200 nm. The stack-and-draw or pit-in-jacket method is employed to fabricate two Yb-HS-SPBGFs. Both of the fiber shows optical filtering property for eliminating ASE in the large gain wavelength range from 1030 nm to 1130 nm and enough high birefringence for maintaining linear polarization, thanks to the photonic bandgap effect and the induced birefringence of the hybrid structure. The fiber attenuation of the Yb-HS-SPBGF fabricated by the pit-in-jacket method is much lower than that of the Yb-HS-SPBGF fabricated by stack-and-draw method. Linearly-polarized single stage fiber lasers using Yb-HS-SPBGFs are also demonstrated. Laser oscillation at 1180 nm is confirmed without parasitic lasing in the fiber lasers. High output power and high slope efficiency in linearly-polarized single-cavity fiber laser using the low-loss Yb-HS-SPGF fabricated by the pit-in-jacket method are achieved. Narrow linewidth, high polarization extinction ratio and high beam quality are also confirmed, which are required for high-efficient frequency-doubling. A compact and high-power yellow-orange frequency-doubling laser would be realized by using a linearly-polarized single-cavity fiber laser employing a low-loss Yb-HS-SPBGF.

This letter proposes a new bandpass shielding enclosure (BPSE) for modern handheld communication devices. This enclosure is characterized by high transmittance at the specified wireless signal band and high shielding effectiveness (SE) outside this band. In addition, it has little influence on the impedance-matching bandwidth and antenna patterns of an internal antenna embedded inside the device. A prototype was created, simulated and measured. The simulated and measured results demonstrate the promising performance of this newly proposed shielding enclosure.

Lasers have been established as a unique nanoprocessing tool due to its intrinsic three-dimensional (3D) fabrication capability and the excellent compatibility to various functional materials. Here we report two methods that have been proved particularly promising for tailoring 3D photonic crystals (PhCs): pinpoint writing via two-photon photopolymerization and multibeam interferential patterning. In the two-photon fabrication, a finely quantified pixel writing scheme and a method of pre-compensation to the shrinkage induced by polymerization enable high-reproducibility and high-fidelity prototyping; well-defined diamond-lattice PhCs prove the arbitrary 3D processing capability of the two-photon technology. In the interference patterning method, we proposed and utilized a two-step exposure approach, which not only increases the number of achievable lattice types, but also expands the freedom in tuning lattice constant.

We have designed, fabricated and characterized efficient optical resonators and low-threshold lasers based on planar photonic crystal concept. Lasers with InGaAsP quantum well active material emitting at 1550 nm were optically pumped, and room temperature lasing was observed at threshold powers below 220 µW. Porous high quality factor cavity that we have developed confines light in the air region and therefore our lasers are ideally suited for investigation of interaction between light and matter on a nanoscale level. We have demonstrated the operation of photonic crystal lasers in different ambient organic solutions, and we have showed that planar photonic crystal lasers can be used to perform spectroscopic tests on femtoliter volumes of analyte.

A new type of compact one dimension (1-D) microstrip photonic bandgap (PBG) structure for filter is presented. A miniature semiconductor-based structure band-stop filter with four cells is simulated, fabricated, and measured. Agreement between the experimental and simulation results has been achieved. The filter with four proposed PBG structure exhibits deep (about -60 dB) and steep (about 40 dB/GHz) stop-band characteristics. It also has less loss and ripples in the pass-band. The period of the PBG lattice is about 0.2 λe (λe, guiding wavelength at the center frequency of stop-band), or 0.068 λ0 (λ0 wavelength in air), and the filter is very compact and much easier for fabrication and realization in MIC and MMIC.

Microstrip antennas on various Uniplane Compact Photonic BandGap (UC-PBG) substrates are investigated. Particularly, anisotropic characteristics of UC-PBG is studied and applied to the design of microstrip diplexer antennas. Moreover, an Embedded UC-PBG (EUC-PBG) scheme is presented to overcome the strong backward radiation caused by the conventional UC-PBG antennas. Such antennas demonstrate the improved radiation properties over the conventional UC-PBG antennas, and the evidence on surface wave suppression is also demonstrated. Experimental results show very good agreement with theoretical predictions.

A novel periodic element for the sandwich photonic bandgap (PBG) structure named as H-shape element is presented in this paper. Sandwich PBG structure is a kind of PBG structure whose periodic lattice is buried in the midmost of the substrate. There's no requirement to drill or suspend the substrate. The new H-shape element is made of a central block connected with a long and narrow block on either side, and possesses a quite deep forbidden gap, whose width and depth can be tuned by varying the dimension of the central block. Theoretical results, as confirmed experimentally, indicate that the maximum insertion loss in the stopband is up to 80 dB. This sandwich microstrip structure can be constructed using conventional printed-circuit-board fabrication processes and integrated with other microwave components in a multilayered circuit. An improved notch filter with chirped central blocks is presented. The length of the filter is reduced by 16.7%, and the fractional bandwidth is increased by 8.1% compared with that of a conventional sandwich microstrip notch filter on the same substrate. The experimental results agree well with the finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations.

A photonic crystal fibre has an array of microscopic air holes running along its length. The periodicity of the array is broken by a deliberate "defect" that acts as a waveguide core. Light is confined to this core by the holes. Although some designs of photonic crystal fibre guide light by total internal reflection and so can be considered analogues of conventional optical fibres, their properties can be strikingly different. Other designs guide light by photonic bandgap confinement and represent a totally new type of fibre.

A photonic crystal fibre has an array of microscopic air holes running along its length. The periodicity of the array is broken by a deliberate "defect" that acts as a waveguide core. Light is confined to this core by the holes. Although some designs of photonic crystal fibre guide light by total internal reflection and so can be considered analogues of conventional optical fibres, their properties can be strikingly different. Other designs guide light by photonic bandgap confinement and represent a totally new type of fibre.