Symmetry Breaking in Photonic Crystals: On-Demand Dispersion from Flatband to Dirac Cones

We demonstrate that symmetry breaking opens a new degree of freedom to tailor the energy-momentum dispersion in photonic crystals. Using a general theoretical framework in two illustrative practical structures, we show that breaking symmetry enables an on-demand tuning of the local density of states of a same photonic band from zero (Dirac cone dispersion) to infinity (flatband dispersion), as well as any constant density over an adjustable spectral range. As a proof-of-concept, we experimentally demonstrate the transformation of a very same photonic band from conventional quadratic shape to Dirac dispersion, flatband dispersion and multivaley one, by finely tuning the vertical symmetry breaking. Our results provide an unprecedented degree of freedom for optical dispersion engineering in planar integrated photonic devices.