The efficient manipulation with optical spectra of colloidal photonic crystals was achieved using the metal mirror positioned either immediately or at a distance from the crystal surface. If the mirror is close to the surface, the changes are mostly quantitative and relate to the improved light confinement. If the spacer provides a $2\pi$ phase shift for round trip of the light at the wavelength of the diffraction resonance of the opal lattice, the defect band is formed in the photonic stop-band leading to 20–40 times increase of the transmission. The upper limit of the quality factor of the defect band was estimated by extrapolating the development of the defect transmission band as a function of the photonic crystal thickness. The specific features related to the photonic crystal dimensionality were revealed in the defect band spectra. The obtained results support the idea of achieving the control on the optical functionality of photonic crystals by recycling the transmitted light in the crystal volume.

• Received 4 February 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.88.125418