Photonic band gap materials

It is a very difficult task to construct such materials and so far three major methods have been utilised in attempts to produce useful photonic band-gap materials. 

Whilst trae 3D photonic band gap materials operating in the microwave and millimetre range have been produced, those operating in the visible region of the spectrum are still awaited. When this eventually happens the optical computer will no longer be a pipe dream. 

C.M. Soukoulis (Ed.), Photonic Band Gap Materials, Kluwer, Boston, MA, 1996. 

Busch, K., and John, S., Liquid-crystal photonic-band-gap materials the tunable electromagnetic vacuum, Phys. Rev. Lett., 83, 967, 1999. 

Figure 3.74. Three-dimensional microstructures (photonic band-gap structure (a), magnified top view of the photonic band-gap material (b), tapered waveguide structure (c), cantilevers (d)) obtained by TP initiated polymerization. (From Ref. [134] with permission of Macmillan Magazines.)...

Kurizki G. and Kofman A. G., Quantum optics in photonic band gap materials, Encycl. of Opt. Engin. (Dekker, 2003). 

Shinn M, Robertson WM (2005) Surface plasmon-like sensor based on surface electromagnetic waves in a photonic band-gap material. Sensors Actuators B Chem 105 360-364... 

Fig. 15 a The structure of the side chain SLC block copolymer 30-31 used by Ober and Thomas to access temperature-dependant photonic band gap materials b A Schematic of the proposed model for free mesogen formation believed to be important for the reorientation of blends heated below ODT in an applied AC field... 

M. Golosovsky, Y. Saado, and D. Davidov, Self-assembly of floating magnetic particles into ordered structures a promising route for the fabrication of tunable photonic band gap materials. Appl Phys Lett 75 p. 4168M170 (1999). 

Photonic Band Gap Materials, ed. by C. M. Soukoulis. Advanced Studies Institute of NATO E 315 (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1996). 

Over the last several decades photonic band-gap materials attracted considerable interest due to the possibility of inhibition of the spontaneous emission and light propagation [1-3]. Mesoporous structures like three-dimensional artificial opals and two-dimensional PAA are considered as photonic band gap materials, demonstrating the photonic stop-band in transmission and reflection spectra [4,5] and anisotropy of photonic density of states (DOS) on scattering indicatrices [6]. An influence of photonic band-gap materials on photoluminescence and spontaneous emission rate of the embedded inclusions have been reported and discussed [7-9]. 

Hydrolysis of TEOS under basic conditions in ethanol/water/ammonia produces colloidal spheres whose size can be controlled in the range of about 50 to 500 nm (44). The silica spheres have reactive OH groups on the surface and still contain some ethoxy groups. The sizes of the spheres can be increased by seed growth procedures in which more TEOS is added to the dispersion. These silica particles are used as templates in the preparation of photonic band gap materials and porous materials, as shown in Figure 11.14 (45). 

Recently, Ch LCs have attracted interest as tunable photonic band gap materials (Ozaki, 2007), because the Ch LCs possess photonic band gap properties as well as response to the external stimuli (John, 1987 Yablonovitch, 1987). 

Shibaev PV, Kopp V, Genack A, Hanelt E. 2003. Lasing from chiral photonic band gap materials based on cholesteric glasses. Liq Cryst 30(12) 1391 1400. 

Opals and Photonic-Band-Gap Materials 3-D ordered arrays of nanostractures with periods of the order of a fraction of the optical wavelength may show intense Bragg diffraction for specific wavelengths and diffraction angles. This phenomenon is the origin of the iridescent colors (opalescence) of opals. Opals consist of an fcc-like array of silica nanoparticles with sizes in the range 150-900 nm [3.82], with a size dispersion below 5% [3.83]. 

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