Macropores in silicon: Toward three-dimensional photonic band-gap structures

A finite-difference time-domain technique is used to analyze the distributi on of the light field in photonic band-gap structures with a defect of the photonic-crystal lattice and the spectrum of defect modes in photonic band gaps for macroporous-silicon photonic crystals. A method for fabricating th ree-dimensional spatially periodic macroporous-silicon structures based on the technology of deep photoanodic etching with a periodically modulated et ching photocurrent is developed and experimentally demonstrated. A procedur e for the creation of three-dimensionally periodic inverse-opal structures through the thermal oxidation of the fabricated macroporous-silicon preform s is discussed. Applications of silicon photonic-crystal structures in high -resolution microscopy, waveguide optics, local photoexcitation, and nonlin ear optics are considered.