Abstract

Kohmoto et al.,¹ proposed recently an experiment to probe the photon localization in optical multilayers. We investigated the possibilities of experimental verification of photon localization in a 1-D quasiperiodic layer structure. Conventional deposition techniques for thin films are not well suited because of the imperfect microstructure of these films. In contrast, low-voltage reactive ion plating deposition produces very dense homogeneous films with smooth interfaces, as assumed in the theory. We deposited multilayers consisting of high H and low L index materials according to the truncated Fibonacci sequence which can be written as a quasi-Fabry-Perot filter (CB)²A(BC)² with A = HLHH, B = LHHL, and C = ALA. Because of the quasiperiodicity, a fractal transmission curve results in theory. In practice, the refractive-index dispersion changes the above quasiperiodic structure. To investigate this influence, we used Ta₂O₅, TiO₂, and ZrO₂ with different dispersion for the H layers with nondispersive SiO₂ for the L layers. We present the first results of this study.

© 1988 Optical Society of America