Layer-by-layer photonic crystal with a repeating two-layer sequence

A layer-by-layer periodic dielectric structure with a large complete photonic band gap is presented. This two-layer (110) diamond consists of only two constitutive layers with the same pattern, producing a simple stacking sequence suitable for fabrication. The stacking is accomplished by a horizontal translation from layer to layer. The structure possesses a complete 15% photonic band gap for Si/air (13:1) dielectric contrast. It is a layered structure with the minimum number of different layers necessary to create a three-dimensional photonic crystal. The proposed structure can be assembled by using three different layer-by-layer techniques. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.