A rigorous and simple method is proposed for analyzing guided modes of metallic electromagnetic crystal waveguides. The method is a combination of generalized reflection and transmission matrices and the mode-matching technique. Fast convergence, low computer cost, and high calculating precision are main advantages of the proposed method. This method can easily avoid the relative convergence phenomena than a classical mode-matching method, and the proposed formulation is very suitable to analyzing multilayered problems with very low computer cost. The existence of H-polarized modes in metallic electromagnetic crystal waveguides has been verified.

This paper reviews recent progresses in the research and development of planar photonic band-gap (PBG) structures, also called electromagnetic crystals, for microwave and millimeter-wave applications. Planar electromagnetic crystals are particularly attractive and intensively investigated because of their easy fabrication, low cost, and compatibility with standard planar circuit technology. Two configurations and their applications are described in this paper: a square lattice of holes etched in a ground plane and the recently developed Uniplanar Compact PBG (UC-PBG) structure. Basic properties as well as applications to microwave circuits are reported. These include harmonic tuning in power amplifier, leakage suppression in conductor-backed coplanar waveguide (CB-CPW), realization of planar slow-wave structure, and performance improvement in microstrip filters and patch antennas.