Abstract
We report the results of the optical characterization of photonic crystals consisting of close-packed arrays of polymeric monodispersed microspheres. The excellent agreement of the diffraction peak wavelengths with Bragg's law enables a precise determination of the sphere diameter. Optical diffraction is used to assess the quality of the internal order of colloidal crystals and to identify optimum growth conditions. This work leads to an estimate of the average free propagation distance of light, which is limited by incoherent scattering due to lattice imperfections, of up to 30 lattice constants.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Astratov, V., Yu.A. Vlasov, O. Karimov, A. Kaplyanskii, Y. Musikhin, N. Bert, V. Bogomolov and A. Prokofiev. Phys. Lett. A 222 349, 1996.
Azároff, L.V. Elements of X-ray Crystallography, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1968.
Blanco, A., E. Chomski, S. Grabtchak, M. Ibisate, S. John, S.W. Leonard, C. López, F. Meseguer, H. Míguez, J.P. Mondia, G.A. Ozin, O. Toader, et al. Nature 405 437, 2000.
Busch, K. and S. John. Phys. Rev. E 58 3896, 1998.
Kalinina, O. and E. Kumacheva. Macromolecules 32 4122, 1999.
Koenderink, A.F., M. Megens, G. van Soest, W.L. Vos and A. Lagendjik. Phys. Lett. A 268 104, 2000.
Li, H., B. Cheng and D. Zhang. Phys. Rev. B 56 10734, 1997.
Liu, L., P. Li and S. Asher. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 119 2729, 1997.
Míguez, H., F. Meseguer, C. López, A. Mifsud, J. Moya and L. Vázquez. Langmuir 13 6009, 1997a.
Míguez, H., C. López, F. Meseguer, A. Blanco, L. Vázquez and R. Mayoral. Appl. Phys. Lett. 71 1148, 1997b.
Pan, G., R. Kesavamoorthy and S. Asher. Phys. Rev. Lett. 78 3860, 1997.
Park, S. and Y. Xia. Langmuir 15 266, 1999.
Scalora, M., J.P. Dowling, C.M. Bowden and M.J. Bloemer. Phys. Rev. Lett. 73 1368, 1994.
Tarhan, I.I. and G. Watson. Phys. Rev. Lett. 76 315, 1998.
Vickreva, O., O. Kalinina and E. Kumacheva. Adv. Mat. 12 110, 2000.
Vlasov, Yu.A., M. Deutsch and D.J. Norris. Appl. Phys. Lett. 76 1627, 2000.
Vos, W.L., M. Megens, C.M. van Rats and P. Bosecke. Langmuir 13 6004, 1997.
Wijnhoven, J.E.G.J. and W.L. Vos. Science 281 802, 1998.
Yannopapas,V., N. Stefanou and A. Modinos. J. Phys.: Cond. Matt. 9 10260, 1997.
Yeh, P. Optical Waves in Layered Media, Wiley, New York, 1988.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Allard, M., Sargent, E.H., Kumacheva, E. et al. Characterization of internal order of colloidal crystals by optical diffraction. Optical and Quantum Electronics 34, 27–36 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013397721552
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013397721552