Congratulations to Maximilian Sohr

Last week Maximilian Sohr has completed his master thesis “Simulation of Optical Fields in Nanophotonic Honeycomb Lattices”. The Honeycomb lattice is a six-fold structure, which looks just like a honeycomb made by bees. If reproduced on the nanoscale, such a lattice can modify the photonic dispersion relation producing photonic band, band gaps and photonic Dirac cones. Most interestingly, topological features can occur which could be exploited to produce lossless wave guides or topological lasers. Max has used two different simulation methods: the band solver MBP and the FDTD solver MEEP. He analysed the resulting band structures and mode profiles for many parameters. Making 3D simulations he could show that these can be quite different from the 2D simulations: The photonic band gap is not global anymore, which could induce losses, so additional effort has to be made to confine the modes. His results will guide experiments, which are fabricating the honeycomb lattices that Max has simulated, such that hopefully new and interesting devices based on nanophotonic honeycomb lattices will be produced soon. Congratulations to Max and we wish him all the best for his future!