Photonic band gaps of porous solids

Colloidal inverse photonic crystals composed of ordered lattices of air spheres in a high dielectric background are found to have three-dimensional photonic gaps for face-centered cubic, hexgaonal close-packed, and double hexagonal close-packed stacking sequences. Conditions for the occurrence of the complete gap are a sufficient dielectric contrast and a geometry near close packed. Although the lower pseudogaps of these stacking sequences differ, the lowest stop band in the stacking direction is insensitive to the stacking sequence; hence their experimental reflection should be similar. Transmission calculations with structural disorder show the lower pseudogap is relatively unaffected but the higher gap, is very difficult to observe with moderate disorder.