Internal field distribution measurement in 1-D strongly anisotropic sub-wavelength periodic structures of finite length.

We report measurements of the internal field intensity distribution in finite length one dimensional strongly anisotropic sub-wavelength periodic structures in the vicinity of the photonic band gap (PBG) edge. The strong in-plane anisotropy of more than 10% index contrast is obtained via form birefringent sub-wavelength gratings. The structures have a period of less than half the wavelength. Depending on the excitation frequency, both standing wave and evanescent Bloch modes can be identified and observed experimentally. The field enhancement near the PBG edge is confirmed also but at a significantly reduced strength attributed to the small but finite material loss. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America