We describe an experimental setup, which allows assessing the optical properties of two-dimensional photonic crystals combined with a waveguide geometry, and etched into a light-emitting (GaAs/InGaAs) semiconductor. By means of a guiding layer, the spontaneous emission of the material is used as a built-in source to probe the properties of the etched microstructure, conveniently compared to the usual measurement schemes. We show polarized transmission and coefficients largely depending on the photonic crystal orientation. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.