Photonic crystal slab quantum well infrared photodetector

In this letter we present a quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP), which is fabricated as a photonic crystal slab (PCS). With the PCS it is possible to enhance the absorption efficiency by increasing photon lifetime in the detector active region. To understand the optical properties of the device we simulate the PCS photonic band structure, which differs significantly from a real two-dimensional photonic crystal. By fabricating a PCS-QWIP with 100x less quantum well doping, compared to a standard QWIP, we are able to see strong absorption enhancement and sharp resonance peaks up to temperatures of 170 K.