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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Magic configurations in moiré superlattice of bilayer photonic crystals: Almost-perfect flatbands and unconventional localization

Dung Xuan Nguyen1,*, Xavier Letartre2, Emmanuel Drouard2, Pierre Viktorovitch2, H. Chau Nguyen3, and Hai Son Nguyen2,4,†

  • 1Brown Theoretical Physics Center and Department of Physics, Brown University, 182 Hope Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA
  • 2Université de Lyon, École Centrale de Lyon, CNRS, INSA Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CPE Lyon, CNRS, INL, UMR5270, 69130 Écully, France
  • 3Naturwissenschaftlich-Technische Fakultät, Universität Siegen, Walter-Flex-Straße 3, 57068 Siegen, Germany
  • 4Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France

  • *dung_x_nguyen@brown.edu
  • †hai_son.nguyen@ec-lyon.fr
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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L032031 – Published 19 August, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.L032031

Abstract

We investigate the physics of photonic band structures of the moiré patterns that emerged when overlapping two unidimensional photonic crystal slabs with mismatched periods. The band structure of our system is a result of the interplay between intralayer and interlayer coupling mechanisms, which can be fine-tuned via the distance separating the two layers. We derive an effective Hamiltonian that captures the essential physics of the system and reproduces all numerical simulations of electromagnetic solutions with high accuracy. Most interestingly, magic distances corresponding to the emergence of photonic flatbands within the whole Brillouin zone of the moiré superlattice are observed. We demonstrate that these flatband modes are tightly localized within a moiré period. Moreover, we suggest a single-band tight-binding model that describes the moiré minibands, of which the tunneling rate can be continuously tuned via the interlayer strength. Our results show that the band structure of bilayer photonic moiré can be engineered in the same fashion as the electronic/excitonic counterparts. It would pave the way to study many-body physics at photonic moiré flatbands and optoelectronic devices.

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Phys. Rev. Research 4, L032031– Published 19 August, 2022
  • Received 9 May 2021
  • Revised 20 May 2022
  • Accepted 1 June 2022
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