
179
8
Photonic Crystal Biosensors
Bashar Hamza, Maurya Srungarapu, Anand Kadiyala,
Jeremy Dawson, and Lawrence Hornak
8.1 Photonic Crystal Basics
The use of engineered nanoscale lattice structures, or photonic crystals, to control light
energy propagation was pioneered by Yablonoivitch (1987) and John (1987). Their objec-
tive was to inhibit spontaneous emission and study light localization in periodic dielectric
structures. They realized that the periodicity of the engineered lattice and the materials it
comprises dene energy propagation regimes in the crystal-like structure. While this was
the rst rigorous examination of engineered lattices