Three-dimensional metallo-dielectric photonic crystals with cubic symmetry as stacks of two-dimensional screens.

Metallo-dielectric photonic crystals with cubic symmetries have been studied here both experimentally and theoretically in the millimeter wavelength region (15-60 mm). In a direct analogy to linear systems, we considered the three-dimensional lattices as a stack of two-dimensional resonating screens. The overall three-dimensional structure was introduced in the calculation through a structural phase. Such an approach proved useful in understanding the related mode propagation and guided us in a study of the transition between cubic and centered body cubic symmetries.