Optical microcavities based on surface modes in two-dimensional photonic crystals and silicon-on-insulator photonic crystals

Surface-mode optical microcavities based on two-dimensional photonic crystals and silicon-on-insulator photonic crystals are studied. We demonstrate that a high-quality-factor microcavity can be easily realized in these structures. With an increasing of the cavity length, the quality factor is gradually enhanced and the resonant frequency converges to that of the corresponding surface mode in the photonic crystals. These structures have potential applications such as sensing.