Disorder in Photonic Structures Induced by Random Layer Thickness

The study of the differences between ordered and disordered materials (in the hundreds of nanometer length-scale) is a central topic for a better understanding of light transport phenomena in photonic media. In this work we report on an experimental and theoretical study of light transmission in disordered one dimensional photonic structures, where the disorder is introduced by a random variation of layer thicknesses. We found that the random photonic structure exhibits a dramatic decrease of the overall light transmission in the range 350-1200 nm with respect to the corresponding periodic photonic crystal. This study envisages the use of disordered one dimensional photonic structures for the realization of broad band filters for many applications, from sensing to photo- and thermo-voltaics.