A two-dimensional octagonal quasiperiodic photonic crystal composed of alumina cylinders is prepared. The transmission spectra of the quasicrystal are measured in the microwave region for the TM wave. We find that the position and width of the band gap do not depend on the incident direction, while the band structure can appear for quite a small piece of the quasicrystal. Two types of waveguide, a straight guide and a bending guide with two sharp 90° corners, are fabricated by removing three rows of cylinders. The measured transmittances show that the guiding efficiency for both waveguides is high.

Three kinds of square metallodielectric photonic crystals have been fabricated. In these crystals, a very small metal cylinder is inserted into the center of each unit cell, while the dielectric cylinders are located at the corners of each unit cell. The transmissions of these photonic crystals have been measured in the microwave region. Compared with dielectric photonic crystals, the first photonic band gap is enlarged by a factor of 2. The experimental results agree well with the simulation obtained by the multiscattering approach. This method may be valuable for the design of photonic crystals with a large band gap.

Interferometric synthetic aperture radiometry is a relative new technique in the area of microwave earth observation to measure the brightness temperature distribution of the earth. It can enhance the spatial resolution of the passive microwave remote sensing effectively. Steady progress of this technology have been achieved in both one dimensional and two dimensional cases since 1990's. The typical instruments are ESTAR and MIRAS, developed by NASA (and umass) and ESA respectively. Relative research has also been conducted in China, mainly by National Microwave Remote Sensing Laboratory (NMRS Lab), Center for Space Science and Applied Research (CSSAR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), since the middle of 1990's. A C-band and an X-band instrument has been developed. In this paper, research activities on synthetic aperture radiometry in CSSAR/CAS will be reviewed and summarized, including the development of the instruments. Finally, further plans in synthetic aperture radiometry in CSSAR/CAS will also be prospected.