Tunable Bloch surface waves in anisotropic photonic crystals based on lithium niobate thin films

We present an original type of one-dimensional photonic crystal that includes one anisotropic layer made of a lithium niobate thin film. We demonstrate the versatility of such a device sustaining different Bloch surface waves (BSWs), depending on the orientation of the incident wave. By varying the orientation of the illumination of the multilayer, we measured an angle variation of 7 degrees between the BSWs corresponding to the extraordinary and the ordinary index of the lithium niobate thin film. The potential of such a platform opens the way to novel tunable and active planar optics based on the electro-and thermo-optical properties of lithium niobate. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America