Rayleigh Reflectors And Applications Thereof

Abstract

In one aspect, optical devices and components are described herein. In some embodiments, a device comprises a substrate and a grating layer disposed on the substrate, wherein the grating layer comprises a periodic grating structure and a sublayer beneath the grating structure and adjacent the substrate. In some cases, the sublayer has a small thickness compared to the wavelength of light incident on and/or coupled into the device. For example, the sublayer of a device described herein can have a thickness of less than about 200 nm. Moreover, devices and components described herein can exhibit both guided-mode resonance (GMR) effects and a Rayleigh anomaly and can be used to provide various optical components such as optical couplers, substrate wave couplers, and flat-top angular reflectors or flat-top angular filters.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.