Photonic Crystal Go Magnetic!

Photonic crystals are nanostructures that can produce photonic band gap, which allows scientists to define allowed and forbidden energy bands, in a way that is similar to the electron flow in semiconductor except that the electron is sbustituted by photons in this material. The photonic band gap is produced by periodic variations of certain property, usually the material's electric permittivity. This article is about the discovery of a method to produce the photonic band gap using magnetic property instead of electric permittivity, giving an alternative way of controlling the flow of light at nanoscale.

http://nanotechweb.org/articles/news/5/9/4?alert=1