One-Dimensional Topological Photonic Crystal Mirror Heterostructure for Sensing

A paradigm for high-quality factor (Q) with a substantial fulfillment for appraising sensing ability and performance has been investigated. Through constructing a 1D (one-dimensional) topological photonic crystal (PhC) mirror heterostructure, which is formed by the image view of 1D topological PhC stacking with its original one. In the 1D topological PhC-mirror heterostructure, there is an interesting mode that appeared with the symmetric, typical Lorentzian-line shape with 100% transmittance in the topological mirror edge-state mode (hybrid resonance mode) at the heterostructure interface. Physically, such a mode is a defect mode, but the defect is introduced through topological operations. The high Q-factor of 5.08 × 10⁴ is obtained due to the strong optical localization of the defect mode at the topological edge area. Consequently, this device acts as a narrow passband filter. Moreover, due to the narrow bandpass property, it may be an advantageous reference for many applications in filtering, switching, and sensing. Thus, introducing an electro-optical (EO) polymer layer at the interface to modify the edge defect can tune the defect mode both in frequency and Q-factor for higher spatial pulse compression and higher EO sensitivity. Accordingly, the Q-factor of 105, the sensitivity of 616 nm/RIU, and the figure of merit of 49,677.42 RIU^-1 are obtained. The sensing ability and performance are attributable to the strong optical localization in the interface region and enhanced light-matter interaction. We predict that the 1D topological PhC mirror heterostructure will be an outstanding point in the field of optical sensing, filters, and optical switching in different fields.