Synthesis of thin film photonic crystals

We describe a synthesis procedure for fabricating thin him photonic crystal s at optical length scales from a ceramic slurry of nanocrystalline titania and polystyrene spheres. Self assembly of the spheres is performed simulta neously with the introduction of the dielectric background. Thin film photo nic crystals are grown on glass or semiconductor substrates. The photonic c rystals are characterized with both surface and cross-sectional scanning el ectron microscope images. The photonic crystals exhibit a reflection peak a nd transmission dip at the wavelength of the first stop band. (C) 2001 Else vier Science B.V. All rights reserved.