Optical characteristics of one-dimensional Si∕SiO2 photonic crystals for thermophotovoltaic applications

A design criterion that permits truly omnidirectional reflectivity for all polarizations of incident light over a wide selectable range of frequencies was used in fabricating an all-dielectric omnidirectional reflector consisting of multilayer films. The reflector was simply constructed as a stack of nine alternating micrometer-thick layers of polystyrene and tellurium and demonstrates omnidirectional reflection over the wavelength range from 10 to 15 micrometers. Because the omnidirectionality criterion is general, it can be used to design omnidirectional reflectors in many frequency ranges of interest. Potential uses depend on the geometry of the system. For example, coating of an enclosure will result in an optical cavity. A hollow tube will produce a low-loss, broadband waveguide, whereas a planar film could be used as an efficient radiative heat barrier or collector in thermoelectric devices.

We demonstrate that one-dimensional photonic crystal structures (such as multilayer films) can exhibit complete reflection of radiation in a given frequency range for all incident angles and polarizations. We derive a general criterion for this behavior that does not require materials with very large indices. We perform numerical studies that illustrate this effect.