A diamond-structured photonic crystal (PC) with graded air spheres radii was fabricated successfully by stereolithography (SL) and gel-casting process. The graded radii in photonic crystal were formed by uniting different radii in photonic crystals with a uniform radius together along the Г‑Х direction. The stop band was observed between 26.1 GHz and 34.3 GHz by reflection and transmission measurements in the direction. The result agreed well with the simulation attained by the Finite Integration Technique (FIT). The stop band width was 8.2 GHz and the resulting gap/midgap ratio was 27.2%, which became respectively 141.4% and 161.9% of the perfect PC. The results indicate that the stop band width of the diamond-structured PC can be expanded by graded air spheres radii along the Г‑Х direction, which is beneficial to develop a multi bandpass filter.
Keywords: diamond-structured; graded; photonic crystals; stop band.