Photofabrication of three-dimensional photonic crystals by multibeam laserinterference into a photopolymerizable resin

Three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystal structures can be fabricated into p hotopolymerizable resins by using laser beam interference with high precisi on. Three laser beams interfere into a glass cell filled with a liquid phot opolymerizable resin to form a hexagonal periodic structure. Rods are forme d in a hexagonal arrangement after being photopolymerzed according to the 3 D periodic light distribution which results from the laser's interference. Two beams of another laser also interfere to form layers which cross perpen dicular to the rod array. After photofabrication, the nonsolidified resin i s removed by ethanol. The lattice constant can be selected by tuning the an gles of the incident beams and the laser wavelength. We have fabricated a 5 00 mu mx500 mu mx150 mu m photonic crystal structure, the lattice constant of which is 1 mu m and contains 150 lateral layers. (C) 2000 American Insti tute of Physics. [S0003- 6951(00)04519-8].