Abstract
Photonic crystals are three-dimensional structures with a dielectric constant that varies largely and periodically with lattice spacing comparable to the wavelength of light. This creates a periodically varying scattering potential for light, giving the material optical properties similar to the electrical properties of a semi-conductor [1]. Like semiconductors, photonic crystals have a tremendous number of possible applications; however, their fabrication has proven to be extremely difficult. A currently explored route to fabricate photonic crystals uses a crystalline lattice constructed of colloidal spheres. The voids between the spheres are filled with a high dielectric constant material then the spheres are removed [2]. While this has been used to create prototype, photonic crystals, controlling the assembly of colloidal spheres into a relatively defect free crystal lattice, necessary for the unique optical properties to manifest, has been very difficult. In this brief summery of our presentation, we describe some new techniques for controlling the self-assembly of spherical colloidal silica. Introduce a method to form opalescent starbursts, show that under the right conditions silica spheres sediment along the [100] direction of the face centered cubic (FCC) lattice which templates the vertical growth of crystallites and use the absence of a substantial horizontal pressure in the liquid phase [3,4], to create elongated single crystal crystallites.
© 2003 Optical Society of America
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