Photonic crystal cavities in cubic (3C) polytype silicon carbide films.

We present the design, fabrication, and characterization of high quality factor (Q ~10(3)) and small mode volume (V ~0.75 (λ/n)(3)) planar photonic crystal cavities from cubic (3C) thin films (thickness ~200 nm) of silicon carbide (SiC) grown epitaxially on a silicon substrate. We demonstrate cavity resonances across the telecommunications band, with wavelengths from 1.25 - 1.6 μm. Finally, we discuss possible applications in nonlinear optics, optical interconnects, and quantum information science.