This work deals with the properties of two photonic structures: planar photonic crystal cavities and opals, which are three dimensionnal photonic crystals. In the first part, the resonant properties of L3 cavities are studied with an original setup, based on the spectrosopic analysis of the scattered light by the cavity. This methods allows for an analysis of the polarisation and spectral position of the resonant modes, and their quality factors. Expérimental results are compared to 3D FDTD, with good agreement. We then apply our method to study the influence of the cavity geometry on the modes, and underline the parameters worth varying in oreder to manipulate their properties. In a second part, the photonic bandgap properties of opals ares studied by optical goniometry. The structural parameters of the sample are characterized by a new method based on the study of the opal band diagram. It allows for an estimation of the effectif index, which we deduce by centering the experimental anticrossing on the K point of the Brillouin zone, in very good agreement with ellipsometric measurements. We then give an answer to two issues met in litterature: the observation of the secondary reflexion pic at specular detection angles, and the vanishing of the p-polarized reflexion pic at Brewster-near angles.
Optical study of photonic crystals: opals and 2D cavity