Group Members

1)MUHAMMAD ZAKI B. MOHD AMIR=12399
2)MUHAMMAD IZZUDDIN B. BADRUL HISHAM=12390
3)RIDZUAN B ZULKEFLI=12434
4)OMAR FOO B. ABDUL RAHMAN FOO=12429
5)MUHAMMAD ILIAS B. MOHAMED IBRAHIM =12389
6)MUHAMMAD KAMIL HANIS B. HASSAN=12391

Poster Presentation

What is Photonic Crystal (PC)?

Photonic Crystals (also known as photonic band-gap materials) are periodic dielectric structures that have a band gap that forbids propagation of a certain frequency range of light.

• This property enables one to control light with amazing facility and produce effects that are impossible with conventional optics.

• Photonic Crystals (PC) are periodic optical/dielectric structures that are designed to affect the motion of photons and consist of separate high dielectric and low dielectric regions.

• The spacing or periodicity determines the relevant light frequencies.

Type of Photonic Crystal

Photonic crystals are regular arrays of material with different refractive indices. In photonic crystal, there are 3 types of them. There are one-dimensional, two-dimensional and three-dimensional. In other word 1D type, 2D type and 3D type. In the case where the variation is along one direction, we call it a 1D photonic crystal. Similarly, we define 2D and 3D photonic crystal’s, corresponding to the respective cases where varies along two and three independent direction. It is arrange by according to the dimensionality of the stack.


The 1D photonic crystals= It is dielectric multilayer and their optical properties are well-known. They are utilized as high-reflection mirrors and anti-reflection coating. However, most investigations related to the control of the radiation field in recent years have been concentrated on 2D and 3D photonic crystals, because they offer a rich variety of new physics of the radiation field.


The 2D photonic crystals= It intersections of air- or dielectric rod axes with a perpendicular plane form a 2D lattice. So that is how the 2D photonic crystals formed.


The 3D photonic crystals, if we design it properly, there appears a frequency range where no electromagnetic eigenmode exists. Frequency ranges of this kind are called photonic bandgaps, since they correspond to bandgaps of electronic eigenstates in ordinary crystals. Moreover, if we introduce a disorder into the regular dielectric structure of the photonic crystal, we may obtain midgap modes whose eigenfunctions are strongly localized around the disorder. These modes are called localized defect modes.

Application of Photonic Crystal

Photonic Crystal exerts a very interesting phenomenon regarding the propagation characteristic of photon. This puts the materials as one of the candidate for future material that will be used into our communication and computation systems.The application of the Photonic Crystal is according to its dimensions. As an overview, the 1-D Photonic Crystal is already commercialized and is in widespread use. The 2-D Photonic Crystal still in its early stage of commercialization with among its first product is the PC Fibre. The 3-D and multi dimensions are in its research and development stage with future prospect of its applications are being reflected.


• 1 Dimension Layer Photonic Crystal

-Colour changing paint
–High reflection coatings

The properties of Photonic Crystal (PC) which creates energy band gap for the photon whereby photon containing energy lying in the band gap cannot propagate through provide a way to construct material with very high reflectivity, loss-less waveguide, lasers cavity and many other applications for optical communication.


• 2 Dimension Layer Photonic Crystal

-Photonic Crystal Fibre

It is use in many applications such as medical. Most optical fibres being used in medical treatment especially the IR fibres have large attenuation when bent. They also have large intrinsic losses due to in homogeneities of the material and surface irregularity. The use of photonic crystal may provide a way around this problem.

• 3 Dimension Layer Photonic Crystal

3D Photonic Crystal offer and may exert many additional features compared to the lower dimension PC. These new feature may lead to new technology and may even be a breakthrough such when semiconductor material which leads to transistor was discovered. But the 3D Photonic Crystal is still far from any practical application. Until some technological difficulties are resolved this technology still lies the future.

Defects and Applications

Defects are not necessarily bad in Photonic Crystal (PC). Ironically, an interesting application can be made out of the defects. PC is known for its feature which traps light and does not allow light to propagate through it. By intentionally introduce defects to the material, light can propagate in between the photonic band gap but only in those regions defined by the defects structure.In other words, by introducing defects to the PC in a controlled manner, a light guiding property is added up to the material.


The advantage of 2D photonic crystals’ excellent wave guiding property has been used in many of their applications.As shown in the figures above, light is propagated in some kind of path. This occurrence happened after a line defect is introduced into the photonic structure. In the figures,defects made it possible to guide the wave into 90 degrees bend and split the beam to two directions, also known as beam splitters.

Natural Photonic Crystal

Although Photonic Crystal architectures appear to be artificial, they are actually found in naturally occurring opal gemstones, and in many living organisms. Species that exhibit iridescent colours due to interference effects include the peacock, comb-jellyfish, the sea mouse, the rainforest beetle and the blue Morpho butterfly. Although widely cited as an example of a natural photonic crystal, the Morpho butterfly is perhaps not actually prototypical because its coloration is thought to involve both interference and diffraction effects, and dye pigmentation. Biologically, it is believed that species have evolved colour through Bragg reflections as a means of thermal regulation and signalling.


Naturally occurring periodic structures have almost exclusively 2D and 3D geometries, but are not, by the Yablonovitch criteria, genuine photonic crystal because their dielectric contrasts are not particularly large. Their activity however can be explained by the extremely large numberof periods found in these structures. This allows them to behave as essentially infinite photonic crystal which lead to perfect band gaps.