The baseline time span for this database is (publication years)
1998-June 30, 2008 from the third bimonthly update (a 10-year + 6-month
period). The resulting database contained 5,639 (10 years) and 2,244 (2
years) papers; 7,725 authors; 70 nations; 331 journals; and 1,599
institutions.
Interviews, first-person essays, and profiles about
people in a wide variety of fields which pertain to
this special topic of Photonic Crystals.
OVERVIEW
Photonic crystals, also known as photonic band-gap materials, are periodic
dielectic materials whose periodicity controls the movement of photons
through the crystal, basically doing for photons what semiconductor
materials have done for electrons. This month, ScienceWatch.com looks at
the research in this field over the past decade, based on the title word
search "photonic cryst*."
The main focus over the past decade, based on the top 20 papers from this
period, appears to be on preparation methods for the variety of photonic
crystalline materials, such as 3D, 2D, fibers, and slabs. These methods
include holographic lithography, photopolymerization, and electrochemical
methods. Other phenomena addressed in the top 20 list include light
propagation, guiding and bending electromagnetic waves, line defect
waveguides, and dispersion characteristics.
The two-year list appears to narrow its focus, dealing with such topics as
introducing defects, supercontinuum generation, preparation in
nanocavities, and control of photoluminescence. Applications also make an
appearance on this list, including photonic crystal fiber lasers, circuits,
and thermal antennae.
Methodology: To construct this database, papers were
extracted for the special topic of Photonic Crystals based this search
criteria:
The baseline time span for this database is (publication years)
1998-June 30, 2008 from the third bimonthly update (a 10-year + 6-month
period). The resulting database contained 5,639 (10 years) and 2,244 (2
years) papers; 7,725 authors; 70 nations; 331 journals; and 1,599
institutions.
Rankings: Once the database was in place, it was used to
generate the lists of top 20 papers (two- and ten-year periods), authors,
journals, institutions, and nations, covering a time span of 1998-April 30,
2008 (second bimonthly period 2008).
The top 20 papers are ranked according to total cites. Rankings for author,
journal, institution, and country are listed in three ways: according to
total cites, total papers, and total cites/paper. The paper thresholds and
corresponding percentages used to determine scientist, institution,
country, and journal rankings according to total cites/paper, and total
papers respectively are as follows: