Analysis of high-Q photonic crystal L3 nanocavities designed by visualization of the leaky components.

We experimentally study photonic crystal L3 nanocavities whose design Q factors (Q_design) have been improved with the visualization of leaky components design method. The experimental Q values (Q_exp) are monotonically increased from 6,000 to 2,100,000 by iteratively modifying the positions of some of the air holes, as determined by the referred design method. We investigate the Q_exp tolerance to imperfections in the fabricated samples, which reveals that the cavities improved by the visualization method tend to lose some tolerance to structural differences between the fabricated samples and the design values.