Growth and property characterizations of photonic crystal structures consisting of colloidal microparticles

High-quality three-dimensional polystyrene-air photonic crystal structures with particle diameters of 200, 270, and 340 nm were grown with a quasi-equ ilibrium evaporation technique. The effects of the removal of interval wate r were evident as a blueshift of peaks, enhancement of the transmission att enuation, and changes in the gap/midgap ratio. Frequency scaling and incide nce-angle-dependent transmission were also investigated; both show good agr eement with the numerical simulation. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America [ S0740-3224(00)01103-6] OCIS codes: 290.5850, 310.2790, 310.6860, 160.4670, 160.4760, 160.4890.