Photonic crystal waveguiding: mode solution and analysis in an envelope picture

Summary form only given. We investigate photonic crystal waveguides using an envelope approximation formalism. Conceptually analogous to the envelope formalism deployed in semiconductor theory, our method focuses on the envelope of the guided modes while accounting for the crystalline nature of the constituents of the heterostructure. The main advantages of this approach are that it allows the investigation of 3-D crystals and provides a physical picture of the behaviour of light inside these waveguides.