Highly directive radiation from sources embedded inside photonic crystals

In this work, we have experimentally and theoretically studied the angular distribution of power emitted from a radiation source embedded inside a photonic crystal. Our results show that it is possible to obtain highly directive radiation sources operating at the band edge of the photonic crystal. Half power beam widths as small as 6degrees have been obtained. Our results also show that the angular distribution of power strongly depends on the frequency and on the size of the photonic crystal. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.