Highly tunable photonic band gap in inverse shell non-close-packed structures

Using 3D-FDTD computations, photonic band gap properties of materials which can be fabricated by an innovative atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique was presented. Non-sintered synthetic opal was conformally infiltrated with a buffer material that can be selectively etched, and a high refractive index material subsequently infiltrated onto the buffer layer up to the maximum infiltration of 86%. After complete chemical removal of the dielectric spheres and sacrificial layer, the inverse structure can be backfilled so that a high refractive index material conforms to the interior geometry of the remaining backbone