Photonic crystal heterostructures and interfaces

Photonic crystal heterostructures, like their semiconductor quantum electronic counterparts, generate complex function from simple, well-understood building blocks. They have led to compact photonic crystal-based waveguides and record-quality-factor resonant cavities. Here the progress on the experimental realization of photonic crystal heterostructure devices, and on the development of convenient, intuitive, and computationally efficient models of devices that unite multiple finite-sized photonic crystal media to engineer photon localization and guidance is summarized.