Understanding of transmission in the range of high-order photonic bands in thin opal film

Diffraction in the face centered cubic lattice cannot explain some minima observed in the transmission spectra of self-assembled opal films. Here, we compared them with minima observed in the transmission spectra of a hexagonal close packed monolayer of spheres of the same diameter. The identity of the sphere packing on the surface of the opal film and in the sphere monolayer was demonstrated by the light diffraction at the sample surfaces. It was shown that excitation of surface propagating modes in the opal film is responsible for the formation of additional minima in opal film transmission. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics. (DOI: 10.1063/1.2920443