Abstract

CASTANEDA-URIBE, Octavio Alejandro; SALCEDO-REYES, Juan Carlos; MENDEZ-PINZON, Henry Alberto  and  PEDROZA-RODRIGUEZ, Aura Marina. Fabrication and optical characterization of a high-quality fcc-opal-based photonic crystal grown by the vertical convective self-assembly method. Univ. Sci. [online]. 2010, vol.15, n.2, pp.150-158. ISSN 0122-7483.

Objective: Fabrication and optical characterization of close-packed 225 nm SiO₂ -based colloidal crystals. Materials and methods: The vertical convective self-assembly method is used to grow high-quality 225 nm close-packed SiO₂-based colloidal crystals. An annealing process (550°C) is made in order to improve the mechanical stability of the sample. Optical characterization is done by angle-resolved transmission spectroscopy (A-RTS) and structural characterization by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Results: Both, A-RTS and SEM, show that with the vertical convective self-assembly method, with the appropriate parameters of temperature of evaporation (60°C), volume fraction of the colloidal suspension (0.2% w/w) and acidity (pH=6), highly ordered close packed face centered cubic (fcc) SiO₂ based colloidal crystals are obtained. Conclusions: The growth of high-quality (long range order and defect-free) face centered cubic opalbased photonic crystals is reported.

Keywords : Photonic crystals; colloidal crystals; artificial opals; vertical convective deposition method; Bragg diffraction.

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