Optical properties of three-dimensional photonic crystals based on III-V semiconductors at infrared to near-infrared wavelengths

The optical properties of three-dimensional photonic crystals based on III-V semiconductors are investigated. The crystals are constructed by stacking GaAs (or InP) stripes with a wafer-fusion technique to form an asymmetric face-centered-cubic structure. It is shown that a crystal with eight-stacked layers (two units), whose period is 4 mu m, has a considerable band-gap effect (similar to 30 dB attenuation) in the transmission spectrum at infrared wavelengths (5-10 mu m), and the band gap is observed independently of the incident angles. Then, a crystal with four-stacked layers with a submicron period is constructed, and a clear band gap (attenuation up to 10 dB) is successfully observed at near-infrared wavelengths (1-1.5 mu m). (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)03833-4].