Photonic properties of an inverted face centered cubic opal under stretch and shear

We present the results of numerical calculations of the dispersion relations for an inverted fcc opal structure subjected to a stretch and shear. We find that shearing of the crystal only lowers the gap width and slightly changes the midgap frequency. Interestingly, that in a large range of stretch amplitudes (up to 10%) the gap width is preserved and even slightly enhanced. The midgap frequency depends almost linearly on the stretch amplitude allowing for tuning an inverted fcc opal structure to a desired operational frequency. This last property may be important for the manufacturing process. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.