Photonic crystals of coated metallic spheres
arXiv:cond-mat/0003518 · doi:10.1209/epl/i2000-00292-4
Abstract
It is shown that simple face-centered-cubic (fcc) structures of both metallic and coated metallic spheres are ideal candidates to achieve a tunable complete photonic bandgap (CPBG) for optical wavelengths using currently available experimental techniques. For coated microspheres with the coating width to plasma wavelength ratio and the coating and host refractive indices and , respectively, between 1 and 1.47, one can always find a sphere radius such that the relative gap width (gap width to the midgap frequency ratio) is larger than 5% and, in some cases, can exceed 9%. Using different coatings and supporting liquids, the width and midgap frequency of a CPBG can be tuned considerably.
14 pages, plain latex, 3 ps figures, to appear in Europhys. Lett. For more info on this subject see http://www.amolf.nl/research/photonic_materials_theory/moroz/moroz.html