Photonic band effects in three dimensional lattices of macroscopic-sized dielectric spheres derived from microwave transmission spectroscopy

Several structures of dielectric spheres (glass) have been arranged and the electromagnetic absorption properties of the resulting materials have been measured in the microwave domain. In all cases strong rejected bands are present while keeping nearly transparent for other frequencies. The physical origin of the observed bands is studied by recording the spectra of the materials as they are grown layer by layer. These data show the appearance of a peak attributed to Bragg scattering generated by the spheres layers. Besides, higher order bands are developed over the resonances that are found even in the single layer of spheres. These are caused by a complex interaction of isolated sphere Mie modes and Bragg scattering in planes perpendicular (or nearly) to the incident radiation.