One-dimensional opal photonic crystals

One-dimensional opals are 1D self-assembled close packed colloidal crystals consisting of monodisperse colloidal globules. Polystyrene globules with sizes in the 1.9–10 μm range sit on a flat substrate and touch two neighbors in diametrally opposite contact points. These opals are quasi-1D photonic crystals. Optical modes, including whispering gallery modes of individual globules, coupled collective modes, and nanojet-induced modes, are visualized in 1D opals.     

Modification of photonic properties in porphyrin-infiltrated opal crystals

Structural, optical and magnetic properties of porphyrin-infiltrated opal hybrid structures were investigated. Bulk samples of synthetic opal were grown by sedimentation technique from colloidal solution of SiO₂ spheres of diameter 250 nm. The structure of the samples was examined by atomic force microscopy. The photonic properties of crystals were investigated by optical measurements in transmission and reflection modes. The stop band was observed in the region 510–550 nm. The photonic properties of synthetic opal crystals were modified by infiltration with aqueous basic solution of iron–porphyrin (FeTPPS) of concentration 1.0 mM. In hybrid samples the absorption bands typical of FeTPPS were observed in the vicinity of the opal stop band. Magnetic properties of FeTPPS-infiltrated opal samples have been studied at 5–300 K in magnetic fields up to 5 T. The FeTPPS-infiltrated opal crystals can be considered as the structures perspective for magnetophotonic devices.     

Anomalous coherent backscattering of light from opal photonic crystals

We studied coherent backscattering (CBS) of light from opal photonic crystals with incomplete band gaps. We observed a dramatic broadening of the CBS cone for incident angles close to the Bragg condition in the crystals. We modify the conventional CBS theory to incorporate Bragg attenuation resulting from the photonic band structure. By fitting the CBS data with the modified theory, we extract both the disorder-induced light mean-free path and the Bragg attenuation length of the inherent opal photonic crystal.     

Structure of light scattering spectra in opal photonic crystals

Spectra of light losses are studied at a fixed angle of incidence of a collimated beam on the surface of an opal anisotropic photon crystal at various observation angles. It is shown that the structure of the forward-and backscattered light spectra is connected with the existence of several directional photonic forbidden bands. It is demonstrated that back scattering is enhanced and forward scattering is suppressed in the frequency region of photonic forbidden bands. It is suggested that a scattering band associated with photon localization at the photonic gap edge is observed.     

Facile control of silica nanoparticles using a novel solvent varying method for the fabrication of artificial opal photonic crystals

In this work, the Stöber process was applied to produce uniform silica nanoparticles (SNPs) in the meso-scale size range. The novel aspect of this work was to control the produced silica particle size by only varying the volume of the solvent ethanol used, whilst fixing the other reaction conditions. Using this one-step Stöber-based solvent varying (SV) method, seven batches of SNPs with target diameters ranging from 70 to 400 nm were repeatedly reproduced, and the size distribution in terms of the polydispersity index (PDI) was well maintained (within 0.1). An exponential equation was used to fit the relationship between the particle diameter and ethanol volume. This equation allows the prediction of the amount of ethanol required in order to produce particles of any target diameter within this size range. In addition, it was found that the reaction was completed in approximately 2 h for all batches regardless of the volume of ethanol. Structurally coloured artificial opal photonic crystals (PCs) were fabricated from the prepared SNPs by self-assembly under gravity sedimentation.

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Spectral characteristics of the radiation of artificial opal crystals in the presence of the photonic flame effect

The results of investigation of the spectral characteristics of radiation in the presence of the photonic flame effect recently discovered experimentally are presented. Radiation from a ruby laser operating in the Q-factor modulation regime with a generation wavelength of 694.3 nm is focused near the oriented surface of a globular photon crystal (artificial opal with a globule size of 230 nm) placed on a copper cold guide whose temperature is close to the liquid-nitrogen boiling point (77 K). The spectrum of long-term afterglow (with a duration of about several seconds when the duration of a pump pulse is equal to 20 ns) appearing in the photonic flame effect is detected using a fiber optic minispectrometer and consists of several comparatively narrow lines whose intensity strongly varies with the pumping power. A similar glow is observed in opal samples filled with acetone or ethanol.     

高质量胶体晶体薄膜的快速制备及表征

通过控制温度和湿度，用垂直沉积法（vertical deposition method）快速制备出了可精确控制样品的厚度、在较大范围呈现好的有序性的密排结构的聚苯乙烯（PS）胶体晶体 薄膜.利用透射电子显微镜直观准确地确定了样品为面心（fcc）密排结构.通过控制样品干燥速度和加温处理，胶体颗粒排列更加有序,并且克服了胶体晶体干燥后易碎和在水等溶 剂中容易再分散等缺点，为胶体晶体实际应用创造了条件. 关键词： 胶体晶体薄膜 垂直沉积法 面心密排结构 再分散     

A version of Stöber synthesis enabling the facile prediction of silica nanospheres size for the fabrication of opal photonic crystals

A sol-gel synthesis procedure based on the method proposed by Stöber et al. (J Colloid Interface Sci 26:302–315, 1968) has been adopted for the one-step preparation of mono-dispersed silica nanospheres. An excellent control of the particle diameter over a wide range is obtained by varying the amount of silicon alkoxide only, while the concentration of all other components is kept fixed: this allows the fabrication of artificial opals with a finely tuned and precisely predictable lattice parameter.     

Scalable interference lithography alignment for fabrication of three-dimensional photonic crystals

Holographic lithography is an ideal technique for fabricating three-dimensional photonic crystals. However, a critical stage in the fabrication is the minute alignment of the layers with one another. We present a simple moirelike alignment technique with better than 20-nm translation resolution and 45-murad rotation resolution. This technique can easily be extended to other situations when low-cost, high-precision alignment is needed.     

The rapid preparation of large-scale CdS opal photonic crystals and study of the optical properties

Monodispersed silica microspheres of 270 nm are synthesized by a colloidal solution method. Larger scale perfect three-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs) are rapidly prepared using the evaporation of acetone to self-assemble the microspheres on quartz substrates by vertical deposition methods. We find that the pseudo-photonic band gap (PBG) of the PC structure changes with increasing annealing temperature; it drastically shifts from 450 nm for as-grown crystals to 409 nm for annealing at 800 °C. CdS photonic crystals are formed by infiltrating CdS nanocrystals of 6 nm into the SiO₂ PC structure. The transmission and spontaneous emission characteristics of CdS PCs have been investigated. The clear dip in the spontaneous emission spectrum relates to the photonic band gap of CdS PCs, indicating that the spontaneous emission is inhibited in the region of the PBG. The emission band of CdS PCs becomes narrower and sharper than that of CdS nanocrystals; this demonstrates that the emission band and intensity of the luminescent devices will be tuned by controlling the position of the PBG. PACS 42.70.Qs; 42.25.Bs; 78.20.-e; 78.55.Et     

Second-harmonic superprism effect in photonic crystals

By exploitation of the nonlinear optical properties of two-dimensional photonic crystals, a second-harmonic superprism effect is demonstrated. The anisotropy of the dispersion curves allows control of the propagation direction of the second-harmonic field. Smooth variations of the fundamental wavelength or the angle of incidence produce a drastic angular shift of the second-harmonic emission.     

Reversed Doppler effect in photonic crystals

Nonrelativistic reversed Doppler shifts have never been observed in nature and have only been speculated to occur in pathological systems with simultaneously negative effective permittivity and permeability. This Letter presents a different, new physical phenomenon that leads to a nonrelativistic reversed Doppler shift in light. It arises when light is reflected from a moving shock wave propagating through a photonic crystal. In addition to reflection of a single frequency, multiple discrete reflected frequencies or a 10 GHz periodic modulation can also be observed when a single carrier frequency of wavelength 1 microm is incident.     

一维磁光子晶体的法拉第效应

由于一维磁光子晶体能同时展示出很好的光透射率和法拉第旋转,故可用于实现小尺度的磁光隔离器。采用传输矩阵法研究了由磁光膜(Bi∶YIG)和电介质膜(Ta2O5,SiO2)构成的一维磁光子晶体,分别讨论了在垂直入射和斜入射条件下的法拉第效应,并给出了几种可行性结构,对磁光隔离器件的进一步改进设计具有一定的参考价值。     

Borrmann effect in photonic crystals: Nonlinear optical consequences

Nonlinear-optical manifestations of the Borrmann effect that are consequences of the spectral dependence of the spatial distributions of the electromagnetic field in a structure are observed in one-dimensional photonic crystals. The spectrum of the light self-focusing effect corresponding to the propagation-matrix calculations has been measured near the edge of the photonic gap.     

Optical waves in photonic crystals and the photonic flame effect

We present the coupled-mode equations for inclined waves in photonic crystals. Among the eigenmodes, we focus on the evanescent modes. We consider the conjugation of the waves at the interface of the crystal and its metallic substrate. We underscore the role of resonant coupling of the fields at this interface and briefly discuss the field structure in the open space.     

Dispersion of light in opal photonic crystal

The selective reflection spectra of films prepared from the photonic crystal, i.e., synthetic opal, are investigated. It is revealed that the refractive index changes at the boundaries of the photonic band gap. The wave vector is renormalized as a result of the interaction of the light wave with the periodic structure of the crystal, and the dependence of the frequency on the photon wave vector deviates from a linear behavior. The band gap determined from these data is approximately equal to 1.7 × 10¹⁴ Hz.     

Superbending effect in two-dimensional graded photonic crystals

We study the superbending effect in a two-dimensional graded photonic crystal (GPC) for both TE and TM modes. We show that the lateral beam shift is extremely sensitive to the wavelength for the TM mode but not TE mode, indicating the potential in designing some special superbending devices, for example, TE/TM splitter and polarization-indifference waveguide at prescribed wavelengths.     

Superprism effect in all-glass volumetric photonic crystals

This paper focuses on the superprism effect which can be obtained in low-contrast photonic crystals. The modelling is related to the newly developed method for all-dielectric photonic crystals. This places material constraints on the simulated crystals which limit the refractive index difference to 0.1 for all-glass photonic crystals and 0.6 for air-glass structures and forces us to focus on hexagonal lattices. The simulations show the existence of superprism effect in both types of structure for realistic glasses. In both cases various linear filling factors are studied in order to maximize the frequency range of the superprism effect. For the air-F2 glass structure it reaches 0.108 normalized frequencies and for the air-NC21 glass structure it reaches 0.99 normalized frequencies for TM polarization. For the double glass structures, the largest range is for the F2/NC21 photonic crystal and spans 0.012 normalized frequencies. In the F2/NC21 crystal the frequency range reaches 0.005 for TE polarization.     

Superprism effect in one-dimensional magnetic photonic crystals

So-called magnetic-superprism effect is studied consisting in an extremely large deviation of a light ray in a photonic crystal under the influence of an external magnetic field. It is demonstrated that the magnetic superprism effect is possible in one-dimensional magnetic photonic crystals.     

Fabrication of silica/zinc oxide core–shell colloidal photonic crystals

We have fabricated three-dimensional ZnO photonic crystals by the self-assembly of SiO₂/ZnO core–shell microspheres of diameter 180–220 nm by means of a vertical deposition method. The organized crystals adopt a uniform close-packed hexagonal structure with long-range order and a high filling fraction. They exhibit strong partial photonic band gaps at 565–688 nm in the transmission spectrum and a broadened band edge emission at 383 nm in the photoluminescence spectrum. For comparison with these ZnO photonic crystals, we have also prepared pure silica crystals of the same dimensions. The photonic band gaps of the former have been found to be shifted to a longer wavelength by about 200 nm compared to those of the latter as a result of the higher refractive index of ZnO. This approach provides an efficient, economical alternative means of obtaining other, more complicated photonic crystals. PACS 82.70.D; 61.46.w; 61.82.Rx; 68.37.Hk