title: Introduction.
abstract: Photonic band structures or photonic crystals are periodic dielectric structures that have variations in two or three dimensions but also include the familiar one-dimensional layered dielectric structures. Photonic crystals are developing potential technological solutions to some perplexing problems in optoelectronics, and in microwave or RF detection. The complex nature of the field dynamics in these structures necessitates the development of numerically intensive computations that can provide answers to design problems.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haus