Evolution of the higher order band structure in FCC photonic crystals

Summary form only given. Recently, several groups have reported inverted opals that may satisfy the requirements for a complete photonic band gap (PBG). These photonic crystals, which represent a face-centered cubic (FCC) lattice of spherical voids in a high refractive index material, were made from materials with sufficiently high refractive index to open the PBG. However, a fundamental question remains about how the intrinsic disorder present in opal photonic crystals will affect the PBG. Here we report quantitative measurements of the higher frequency photonic band structure in opal photonic crystals in the region of the eighth and ninth bands.An inverted optical microscope, a monochromator, and a 2D CCD array is used to measure transmission and reflection from an area of only several unit cells.