Optical Properties of Photonic Crystals & Photonic Devices

Photonic Band Gap (PBG) materials are artificial, periodic dielectrics that enable engineering of the most fundamental properties of electromagnetic waves. Unlike traditional semiconductors that rely on the propagation of electrons through an atomic lattice, PBG materials execute their novel functions through selective trapping or ¿localization of light¿ using engineered defects within the dielectric lattice. This is of great practical importance for all-optical communications and information processing. Optical properties of photonic crystals (PCs) have been studied such as band structure, transmission and reflection spectra for 1-D, 2-D and 3-D PCs. Along with this, photonic devices are designed for applications in optical communication.