Complex interaction of polarized light with three-dimensional opal-based photonic crystals: Diffraction and transmission studies

Polarization characteristics of light interaction with the photonic crystal of a-SiO2 synthetic opals were studied under the conditions of low dielectric contrast. We analyzed 3D diffraction patterns of monochromatic light and calculated optical transmission spectra of oriented samples. The diffraction patterns are found to change with the polarization of incident light, indicating a strong polarization dependence of photonic stop bands in synthetic opals. It is shown theoretically there exists a critical angle, θc, of the p-polarized light incident on the (h k l) crystal plane, at which the resonance contribution to Bragg diffraction vanishes.