The mathematics of photonic crystals (Q2758029)

This paper gives a very interesting account of the mathematical formulation, the analysis, and optimal design of photonic crystals, also known as photonic band gap (PGB) structures. A photonic crystal is a periodic dielectric medium in which electromagnetic waves of certain frequencies cannot propagate, which is caused by gaps in the spectrum of the periodic Maxwell or related operators. The author describes some basic analytic ideas and techniques to study the spectral properties. The methods belong to different fields including several complex variables, algebraic geometry, Floquet-Bloch theory. The paper describes in detail recent results on the spectrum of periodic differential operators, conditions on the existence of band gaps and the effect of introducing localized defects into the periodic structure. The author discusses also actual developments in numerical techniques for the calculation and optimization of PGB structures.NEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see [Zbl 0964.00050].