Abstract

Light propagates inside an ideal and infinite photonic crystal when the Bloch condition is satisfied and any allowed light wave is decomposed in a basis of propagating Bloch waves [1]. In real photonic crystals, light propagation is modified due to unavoidable fabrication-induced structural imperfections in size, positions, and permittivity of the building blocks, as well as the finite size of the crystal. The unavoidable deviations from perfect periodicity result in scattering [2, 3]. Here, we seek to understand the nature of waves inside a real photonic crystal since inevitable disorder plays a significant role in wave propagation.

© 2017 IEEE