Abstract
We consider quantum optical processes in the context of photonic structures composed of materials with naturally occurring photonic band gaps, principally two-component structures with one or both components possessing frequency-dependent dielectric functions. Results of calculations are presented for the decay rate of a single dipole and for a system of two dipoles co-operatively partaking in the spontaneous emission process when the system is immersed within two types of basic structure: semiconductor/semiconductor structures and hollow structures, specifically metal/vacuum multilayers and rectangular waveguides. In the case of hollow structures the spontaneous decay rate is an important ingredient of the radiation forces responsible for channelling the atoms along the hollow regions of the structures when the dipolar transition frequency is appropriately tuned to an excitable mode of the structure. Such an atom channelling action is realisable in metal/vacuum multilayer guides as well as cylindrical guides.