Disordered one-dimensional photonic structures composed by more than two materials with the same optical thickness

Abstract: The optical properties of photonic structures made with more than two materials are very interesting for optical filtering and lighting applications. Herein, we compared the transmission properties of one-dimensional photonic crystals made with three, four and five materials, showing that, with a photonic crystal made of t different materials, the band gap splits in t-1 bands. The same optical thickness for the different materials layers results in split photonic band gaps with the same intensity. Photonic crystals with more than two materials result in a simple structure that could be used for multi-feature optical filters, or that could provide feedback for multi-emission distributed feedback lasers. Furthermore, we analyzed the transmission properties of ternary and quaternary random photonic structures. These materials could very interesting for light trapping in photovoltaic devices.