Photonic Crystals

The second volume of the book concerns the characterization approach of photonic crystals, photonic crystal lasers, photonic crystal waveguides and plasmonics including the introduction of innovative systems and materials. Photonic crystal materials promises to enable all-optical computer circuits and could also be used to make ultra low-power light sources. Researchers have studied lasers from microscopic cavities in photonic crystals that act as reflectors to intensify the collisions between photons and atoms that lead to lazing, but these lasers have been optically-pumped, meaning they are driven by other lasers. Moreover, the physical principles behind the phenomenon of slow light in photonic crystal waveguides, as well as their practical limitations, are discussed. This includes the nature of slow light propagation, its bandwidth limitation, coupling of modes and particular kind terminating photonic crystals with metal surfaces allowing to propagate in surface plasmon-polariton waves. The goal of the second volume is to provide an overview about the listed issues.