Density of states of a one-dimensional disordered photonic crystal

An analytic theory of the density of states in one-dimensional disordered photonic crystals is proposed. It is shown that the problem of the density of optical modes can be reduced in the small dielectric contrast approximation to solving a generalized Fokker-Planck equation for the distribution function of the logarithmic derivative of the electric field (the wave phase). The exact analytic solution and density-of-states asymptotics deep in the band gap of the photonic crystal and close to the band gap edge are derived. The results obtained agree well with the empirical relations derived earlier from numerical experiments.