Photonic crystals and metamaterials

Recent results obtained on semiconductor-based photonic crystal devices are of great promise for future developments of photonic crystals and their applications to ‘all-photonic’ integrated circuits. Device performance mostly relies on the strong confinement of light thanks to photonic bandgap effects, but photonic crystals also exhibit remarkable dispersion properties in their transmission bands, thus opening the perspective of new optical functionalities. Slow light, supercollimation, superprism, and negative refraction effects are among the fascinating phenomena which strongly motivate the community. Studies in these directions parallel those on metamaterials, which are expected to provide a simultaneous control of the dielectric permittivity and of the magnetic permeability. In this article, we briefly review some important advances on photonic crystals and metamaterials, as these two topics received a particular attention during the “Nanosciences et Radioélectricité” workshop organized by CNFRS in Paris on the 20th and 21st of March 2007. To cite this article: J.-M. Lourtioz, C. R. Physique 9 (2008).