Preface: phys. stat. sol. (a) 204/11

Abstract

AbstractStimulated by the pioneering work of Sajeev John and Eli Yablonovitsch in 1987, German research groups started in the early 90s with theoretical and experimental work on 2D and 3D photonics crystals. This initial work was the basis of an application for a Priority Programme on Photonic Crystals at the German Science Foundation (DFG) in 1999. In the last seven years, a consortium consisting of more than 20 German research groups worked together in the area of photonic crystals.We started with linear, non‐dispersive properties of purely dielectric 2D and 3D photonic crystals in the late 90s and developed the field of research step‐by‐step to non‐linear and dispersive properties of dielectric photonic crystals including gain and/or losses. These properties where studied on different materials systems such as silicon, III–V‐compound semiconductors, oxides and polymers as well as hybrid systems consisting of dielectric photonic crystals and liquid crystals. Applications of these systems were developed in the area of active photonic crystals fibres, functional optical components as well as sensors. Some of them have even entered into industrial applications. During the funding period, some groups extended the initial focus to non‐dielectric, dispersive materials such as metals and discussed the properties of periodic metallic structures (plasmonic crystals). After the groundbreaking work of John Pendry at the beginning of this century, also resonances in dispersive structures with periodic permeability and permittivity (metamaterials) were studied. This was important to understand the difference of negative refraction in metamaterials and dielectric photonic crystals.This special issue summarizes the work of those groups being part of the German Priority Programme. Other groups not funded by this project but by other grants joined the German initiative on photonic crystals. Workshops of all groups working in the field have been carried out at the German Physical Society meeting every year. Our work was also stimulated by the numerous Humboldt Awardees which visited Germany in the last seven years such as Sajeev John, Costas Soukoulis, Thomas Krauss and many others. We are also pleased that some of our close collaborators over the last six years have contributed to this issue, Dan Davidovs group from the Hebrew University, Israel and Masanori Ozaki group from Osaka University, Japan.At the end of this project, photonic crystals, plasmonic materials and metamaterials have been established as mature research field in Germany. They entered the academic curriculum and several professorships have been denominated in this area so that our common research can continue in the future. We are deeply indebted to the German Science Foundation that they have supported this research field over the last seven years. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)