Leakage of photons from photonic crystals

Abstract

Leaky photonic bands are investigated with emphasis placed on the research history of the theoretical treatment of the leakage of photonic-bands photons from photonic crystals. It is stressed that the photon leakage plays a decisive role in various optical processes, such as Raman scattering, light transmission and reflection, and near-field optics, by governing the sharpness of the resonant features arising from the photonic band excitation.