TABLE OF CONTENTS The flow of innovations since the late 1980s created by the introduction of the concept of the photonic crystal (YAB 87; JOH 87) is still rather slow, but will no doubt accelerate in the future to an extent which is beyond our full consciousness: it was simply proposed to extend the field of optics to the three dimensions of space, which was rather confined, yet with very successful outcomes, to the one dimensional world of multilayer optical structures. It is now established that the emergence of 3D Microphotonics based on full 3DPC will be significantly delayed, as a result of technological constraints. We hope that the reader will have been convinced that, on the other hand, 2DPC are fully engaged in the process of innovation and that we are experiencing, in that respect, a truly microphotonic revolution. We have shown that 2DPC are very promising for 2D microphotonic integration; there is however a lot left to be done before 2DPC devices are fully integrated in the world of optoelectronics, especially in connection with the solutions required for the control of radiation optical losses. As for so called 2.5D Microphotonics, where 2DPC are deliberately opened up to the third dimension of space, we have seen convincing demonstrations of their ability to generate, in the short term, a wide range of photonic devices ( killer applications ) combining compactness, spatial (angular) and spectral resolution, and whose fabrication meets the standards of planar technology, familiar to the world of microelectronics.
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