Angular dependence of the stopband of an inverse opal structure

Summary form only. We present an outline of the fabrication method for an inverted opal structure which consists of an FCC arrangement of air spheres in TiO/sub 2/. The structure was formed by a modification of a previous method in which a solution of latex spheres was dried under an infrared lamp and infiltrated with titanium ethoxide. The composite was then calcined at 575/spl deg/C during which the precursor was converted to TiO/sub 2/ and the latex spheres burnt away, leaving an ordered lattice of air spheres in titania. The reflectance spectra were measured as a function of wavelength for several angles of incidence. We compared these with theoretical calculations using the transfer matrix method.