2D Photonic Defect Layers in 3D Inverted Opals on Si Platforms

Dielectric spheres synthesised for the fabrication of self-organized photonic crystals such as opals offer large opportunities for the design of novel nanophotonic devices. In this paper, we show a hexagonal superlattice monolayer of dielectric spheres inscribed on a 3D colloidal photonic crystal by e-beam lithography. The crystal is produced by a variation of the vertical drawing deposition method assisted by an acoustic field. The structures were chosen after simulations showed that a hexagonal super-lattice monolayer in air exhibits an even photonic band gap below the light cone if the refractive index of the spheres is higher than 1.93