Photonic Band Properties of Ordered Nanoparticle Layers

Abstract

Transparent dielectric materials consisting of three-dimensional periodic structures varying on the scale of the wavelength of light are called photonic crystals and show the characteristic dispersion relations of photons, so-called photonic band structures with forbidden gaps. The photonic band is just like the electronic band in crystals and the photonic band gap, which is similar to the electronic band gap in semiconductors, has attracted much attention after E. Yablonovitch proposed inhibited spontaneous emission of an impurity which is put inside the photonic crystal and emits light just at the photon energy of the photonic band gap [1]. In a two-dimensional (2D) monolayer of dielectric microspheres, which is a primitive element for constructing threedimensional structures by piling up layer by layer [2–4], there appears a dissipative 2D photonic band structure with its peculiar electromagnetic near-field distribution on the layer surface. Light scattering by an isolated fine particle whose diameter is of the order of the wavelength of light is well known as Mie scattering. In the case of particle layers, multiple Mie scattering [5] occurs inside the layer, resulting in the formation of energy band structures of photons.