A prison for photons in a diamond-like photonic crystal

Scientists from the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology at the University of Twente in the Netherlands have designed a novel type of reso­nant cavity that serves as a prison for photons. The cavity confines light in all three dimensions in space inside a photonic crystal. The crystals have a structure similar to how atoms are arranged in diamond gems. Confining photons has many applications in optics (efficient miniature lasers and LEDs), communication technology (on-chip storage bits of information), and even in life sciences (tiny, yet sensitive sensors of pharmaceutical materials). The results appear in the leading journal Physical Review B that is published by the American Physical Society (APS).