Recent Advances Toward Optical Devices in Semiconductor-Based Photonic Crystals

Photonic crystals, artificial, wavelength-scale multidimensional periodic structures, have given birth to a number of realizations in semiconductors. Photonic integrated circuits, especially around new integrated lasers, are challenging directions of research for miniaturization and new functions in optical telecommunications. We review the basic physics behind such applications and underline the current status of this very active research field worldwide