Diffraction of light from thin-film polymethylmethacrylate opaline photonic crystals

Photonic crystals in the form of large area thin films consisting of closely packed polymethylmethacrylate beads were sedimented on glass substrates. The high ordering of the opaline films made it possible to observe a number of fine features in the optical diffraction, including Fabry-Perot oscillations of the reflectivity and branching of the angular dispersion of the Bragg resonances with increase of the angle of incidence of the light beam. Results of calculations of the photonic band structure and simulations of the reflectance spectra agree well with experimental observations.