Temporal Modulation of Light Intensity via 1D Time-Variant Photonic Crystal Structure

In this work, we show that light intensity modulation can be realized in the system of one-dimensional time-variant photonic crystals. Different from conventional light modulators, the functioning of the proposed structure emphasizes on its spatial/temporal structures instead of inherent material properties. Additionally, our system can perform inherent light modulation without introducing external stimuli, thus avoiding direct contacts with electrodes (or other modulation sources), which would be preferable in certain environments. The influences of parameters such as light frequency, structure dimensions, and refractive index contrasts on the modulation performance of the time-variant photonic crystal were investigated by numerical simulations. The results provide a new strategy for light modulation, which may add functionalities in optical communication, integrated-optics or display technologies.