Interaction of polarized light with three-dimensional opal-based photonic crystals

We studied polarization- and angle-resolved optical transmissivity of high quality synthetic opals and found a strong anisotropy in the intensity of the transmitted light at different polarizations for most directions of propagation in the opal photonic crystal. The differential transmissivity T_-T_⊥ at two orthogonal polarizations is nearly frequency-independent for the Γ-L incident light, but it is positive in the energy range of the {111} photonic stop gaps and negative in the energy range of the {200} stop gaps in the case of the Γ-K incidence. The polarization-resolved transmission spectra can be qualitatively analyzed in terms of the Fresnel theory and the Brewster effect taking into account the relative orientation of the hkl crystallographic planes in the opal structure.