Scattering of light on the surface of photonic crystals

We present a new method to calculate the scattering of light at the surface of a photonic crystal. The problem is solved in terms of virtual surface-current distributions and the calculation takes full advantage of the existing infinite-space plane-wave expansion method for obtaining the photonic band structure. Working with surface currents makes the calculations less-time consuming by means of reduction of the dimensionality in the problem. The method is tested and illustrated for semi-infinite two-dimensional photonic crystals of small and large dielectric contrast.