Tunneling Of Electromagnetic Waves In Two-dimensional Photonic Crystals

By analogy to electron wave propagation in crystals, electromagnetic (EM) waves in periodic dielectric structures also encounter allowed bands of perfect transmission and forbidden regions of strong attenuation (band gaps). The propagation of electron waves in resonant tunneling structures has been well investigated, and gave rise to one of the first observations of quantized states in a semiconductor heterostructure [1]. So far, electromagnetic tunneling in the band gap region of photonic crystals has not been systematically studied, nor have quantized states in the photonic analog of a double barrier resonant tunneling structure (DBRT) been observed.