Resonance-induced effects in photonic crystals

For the case of a simple face-centered-cubic photonic crystal of homogeneous dielectric spheres, we examine to what extent single-sphere Mie resonance frequencies are related to band gaps and whether the width of a gap can be enlarged due to nearby resonances. Contrary to some suggestions, no spectacular effects may be expected. When the dielectric constant of the spheres εs is greater than the dielectric constant εb of the background medium, then for any filling fraction f there exists a critical εc above which the lowest lying Mie resonance frequency falls inside the lowest stop gap in the (111) crystal direction, close to its midgap frequency. If εs < εb, the correspondence between Mie resonances and both the (111) stop gap and a full gap does not follow such a regular pattern. If the Mie resonance frequency is close to a gap edge, one can observe a resonance-induced widening of a relative gap width by ≈ 5%. (J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 11, 2503-2512 (1999)) PACS numbers: 42.70.Qs, 71.20. Typeset using REVTEX ∗http://www.amolf.nl/external/wwwlab/atoms/theory/