Absorption suppression in photonic crystals

We study electromagnetic properties of periodic composite structures, such as photonic crystals, involving lossy components. We show that in many cases a properly designed periodic structure can dramatically suppress the losses associated with the absorptive component, while preserving or even enhancing its useful functionality. As an example, we consider magnetic photonic crystals, in which the lossy magnetic component provides nonreciprocal Faraday rotation. We show that the electromagnetic losses in the composite structure can be reduced by up to two orders of magnitude, compared to those of the uniform magnetic sample made of the same lossy magnetic material. Importantly, the dramatic absorption reduction is not a resonance effect and occurs over a broad frequency range covering a significant portion of the respective photonic frequency band.