Optical Characterization of Inverse Diamond Photonic Crystals
Abstract
This proposal seeks funding to purchase and assemble two instruments to be used for the optical characterization of materials with 3-D omnidirectional photonic band gaps at near infrared and visible frequencies (wavelengths). The first instrument is a commercial FTIR spectrometer microscope modified so that it can measure the frequency-dependent reflection and transmission of near-IR and visible light from photonic crystals with a spatial resolution of several micrometers. Such measurements will be used to quantitatively characterize and spatially resolve the photonic band structure of the optical materials we make. The second instrument is a home-built apparatus assembled from commercial components that is designed to measure the enhanced coherent backscattering of light from photonic crystals and other materials that strongly scatter light. This instrument will be used to quantitatively characterize disorder in our photonic crystals, especially at frequencies near the photonic band gap where it is expected that a sucient level of disorder can trigger strong (Anderson) localization of light. These two instruments will serve to support ongoing research in our lab funded by the Army Research Oce (ARO). Under that ARO-supported project, we recently reported the self-assembly of dielectric colloidal particles into a fully 3-D cubic diamond crystal for the first time. The selfassembly of colloidal diamond had been sought for over two decades because the diamond lattice possesses a wide omnidirectional band gap that is robust to disorder. This is important because other lattices that exhibit a photonic band gap either cannot be self-assembled (e.g. the ÒwoodpileÓ structure), which makes them prohibitively dicult and expensive to make, or they have only a small band gap that is sensitive to disorder (e.g. face-centered cubic). The instruments will be used to characterize inverse diamond photonic crystals, that is, crystals of air inclusions arranged in a cubic diamond lattice in a background of high-refractive-index material. Silicon will be used as the high-refractive-index material for photonic crystals with a band gap in the near infrared; titanium dioxide will be used for band gaps in the visible and very near infrared. These materials are expected to be useful for the next generation of photonic devices, including the more ecient microlasers, optical waveguides, filters, and all-optical switches.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 25, 2022
- Source ID
- W911NF2210230
Entities
People
- David J. Pine
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- New York University
- United States Army