Influence of imperfections on the insulating and guiding properties of finite Si-inverted opal crystals.

The stability of the photonic properties of Si-infiltrated opals for fabrication disorder is tested with following models of applied imperfections: deviations in radii of spheres, deviations in spheres positions and both of them. The deviations are assumed to be distributed accordingly to the normal law and to the skewed distribution experimentally observed in the process of production of polymer self-assembled crystals. The criteria for the photonic crystals tolerances are evaluated versus the quality of photonic insulation provided by films or bulk spheres of finite thicknesses.

GIUSAXS and AFM studies on surface reconstruction of latex thin films during thermal treatment.

The structural evolution of a single-layer latex film during annealing was studied via grazing incidence ultrasmall-angle X-ray scattering (GIUSAXS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The latex particles were composed of a low-Tg (-54 degrees C) core (n-butylacrylate, 30 wt %) and a high-Tg (41 degrees C) shell (t-butylacrylate, 70 wt %) and had an overall diameter of about 500 nm. GIUSAXS data indicate that the q(y) scan at q(z) = 0.

Covalent and physical cross-linking of photonic crystals with 10-fold-enhanced chemomechanical stability.

We report opal photonic crystals that are self-assembled from functional polymer particles. We randomly copolymerized functional side-chain monomers containing motifs that form homodimers or heterobridges. These include ether or methylene bridges, hydrazone bridges, acids for anhydride formation, low- T g copolymers or physical cross-links by hydrogen bonds and/or polarity.

Mechano-optical octave-tunable elastic colloidal crystals made from core-shell polymer beads with self-assembly techniques.

Elastic colloidal crystals, even without a full photonic band gap, hold promise for fascinating applications and for easy large-scale fabrication by self-assembly. However, high mechanical robustness is required for optical, decorative, or security applications, such as tunable optical modulators/filters or optical tension indicators. Here, we present brilliantly colored filled-pore colloidal crystals that withstand elongation by 100%, i.