Omni-resonant optical micro-cavity

Abstract

Optical cavities transmit light only at discrete resonant frequencies, which are well-separated in micro-structures. Despite attempts at the construction of planar 'white-light cavities', the benefits accrued upon optically interacting with a cavity - such as resonant field buildup - have remained confined to narrow linewidths. Here, we demonstrate achromatic optical transmission through a planar Fabry-Pérot micro-cavity via angularly multiplexed phase-matching that exploits a bio-inspired grating configuration. By correlating each wavelength with an appropriate angle of incidence, a continuous spectrum resonates and the micro-cavity is rendered transparent. The locus of a single-order 0.7-nm-wide resonance is de-slanted in spectral-angular space to become a 60-nm-wide achromatic resonance spanning multiple cavity free-spectral-ranges. The result is an 'omni-resonant' planar micro-cavity in which light resonates continuously over a broad spectral span. This approach severs the link between the resonance bandwidth and the cavity-photon lifetime, thereby promising resonant enhancement of linear and nonlinear optical effects over broad bandwidths in ultrathin devices.