Photonic band gap materials and method of preparation thereof

Claim 1

A photonic band gap material comprising: one or more periodic reticulated mesh physical structures which have periodic reticulation with pore size in the range of 0.1 microns to 500 microns; said material operating to exclude electromagnetic radiation in one or more bands of wavelengths in a portion of the wavelength range of 0.2 microns to 1000 microns, at least one of said excluded electromagnetic radiation wavelength bands being selected by the dimensions of the reticulation; said material modulating or converting impinging electromagnetic radiation having a first wavelength range, a first direction and a first phase to emitted electromagnetic radiation having a second wavelength range, a second direction, and a second phase, at least one of said first wavelength range, said first direction and said first phase different from one of said second wavelength range, said second direction and said second phase, respectively; and wherein said material is fabricated from one or more substances selected from the group consisting of: a. polycrystalline aluminum oxide and single crystalline aluminum oxide, b. other oxides including chromium-doped aluminum oxide, titanium-doped aluminum oxide, yttrium aluminum garnet, other synthetic garnets, perovskites, spinels, and the like, c. elemental materials such as silicon, germanium and the like, d. compounds formed from elements in columns III and V of the periodic table such as gallium arsenide, indium phosphide, and similar compounds or ternary or higher order alloys of these compounds, such as gallium aluminum arsenide, e. compounds formed from elements in columns II and VI of the periodic table such as zinc selenide, zinc sulphide, cadmium telluride, mercury telluride and similar compounds or ternary or higher order alloys of these compounds, such as mercury cadmium telluride, f. rare-earth doped oxide glass, g. and materials having high dielectric constant which can be infiltrated into a porous body and then solidified, such as epoxies and plastics.