Demonstration of a three-dimensional simple-cubic infrared photonic crystal

This letter reports on the use of nonselective dry and selective wet etching to fabricate a gallium arsenide (GaAs) based three-dimensional infrared photonic crystal with a simple-cubic lattice structure. A two-and-one-half-period photonic crystal fabricated using this procedure demonstrated a drop in transmission of approximately 10 dB at a center wavelength of 12 mu m for normally incident angles. A shift in the long-wavelength shoulder from 16 to 15 mu m was observed as the incident infrared beam was varied from normal to oblique incidence. The measured drop in transmission agrees well with the band gap predicted theoretically for this simple-cubic structure. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(99)04643-4].