Just like the periodical crystalline potential in solid-state crystals determines their properties for the conduction of electrons, the periodical structuring of photonic crystals leads to envisioning the possibility of achieving a control of the photon flux in dielectric and metallic materials.

The use of photonic crystals as a cage for storing, filtering or guiding light at the wavelength scale thus paves the way to the realisation of optical and optoelectronic devices with ultimate properties and dimensions. This should contribute toward meeting the demands for a greater miniaturisation that the processing of an ever increasing number of data requires.

Photonic Crystals intends to provide students and researchers from different fields with the theoretical background needed for modelling photonic crystals and their optical properties, while at the same time presenting the large variety of devices, from optics to microwaves, where photonic crystals have found applications. As such, it aims at building bridges between optics, electromagnetism and solid-state physics.

This book was written by six specialists of nanophotonics, and was coordinated by Jean-Michel Lourtioz, head of the Institut d'Electronique Fondamentale in Orsay and coordinator of the French Research Network in Nanophotonics."

Photonic technology promises much faster computing, massive parallel processing, and an evolutionary step in the digital age. The search continues for devices that will enable this paradigm, and these devices will be based on photonic crystals. Modeling is a key process in developing crystals with the desired characteristics and performance, and Electromagnetic Theory and Applications for Photonic Crystals provides the electromagnetic-theoretical models that can be effectively applied to modeling photonic crystals and related optical devices. The book supplies eight self-contained chapters that detail various analytical, numerical, and computational approaches to the modeling of scattering and guiding problems. For each model, the chapter begins with a brief introduction, detailed formulations of periodic structures and photonic crystals, and practical applications to photonic crystal devices. Expert contributors discuss the scattering matrix method, multipole theory of scattering and propagation, model of layered periodic arrays for photonic crystals, the multiple multipole program, the mode-matching method for periodic metallic structures, the method of lines, the finite-difference frequency-domain technique, and the finite-difference time-domain technique. Based on original research and application efforts, Electromagnetic Theory and Applications for Photonic Crystals supplies a broad array of practical tools for analyzing and designing devices that will form the basis for a new age in computing.