Dye-Containing Polymer Beads as Photonic Crystals

Abstract

Monodisperse PMMA beads of a size varying between 200 and 400 nm have been prepared by a modified emulsion polymerization technique. These beads sediment well on substrates to form 3-dimensional face-centered cubic packages. This method allows it to cover large glass substrates (area up to 10 × 10 cm) with an opalescent layer of the beads thus creating films with opaline structure, which can be used as photonic crystals. Choosing PMMA as the material of the beads brings several advantages, e.g., the PMMA photonic films can be precisely patterned by e-beam lithography with the feature resolution down to one bead in width and various fluorescent dyes can be incorporated in PMMA balls. Dye-impregnated PMMA opaline photonic films demonstrate the incomplete photonic band gap structure and related modification of dye photoluminescence spectrum.

Direct electron-beam lithography on opal films for deterministic defect fabrication in three-dimensional photonic crystals

“…Colloidal monodisperse poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microspheres were synthesized using the routine described elsewhere [9]. The polymer colloids had the measured molecular weight of 200 000 g/mol with a measured polydispersity index of 2.4.…”

One-dimensional optical reflectors based on self-organization of polymeric comb-shaped supramolecules

“…Lithographic and etching techniques, in principle, make it possible to engineer structures and defects in detail, as well as to attain sufficient dielectric contrast, but achievement of small structures down to the optical length scale is challenging. On the other hand, spontaneous assemblies allow formation of small enough structures based on colloids [5,6], synthetic opals [7][8][9][10][11], inverted opals [7,[12][13][14][15][16], and block copolymers [17][18][19][20][21][22]. In such cases, although the organization leads to a welldefined local order, it is nontrivial to achieve perfectly ora e-mail: g.ten.Brinke@chem.rug.nl b e-mail: Olli.Ikkala@hut.fi dered structures over the macroscopic length scale, which, in addition should contain carefully engineered defects for "light channels".…”

Polymers and Dyes: Developments and Applications

“…In that case, the intramolecular dye-dye interactions dominate the dye-polymer interactions, and accordingly, the diffusion rate is higher compared to the pure dyes. PMMA was employed for the non-covalent incorporation of dyes as well [45]. For this, PMMA beads were prepared via a surfactant-free emulsion polymerization technique.…”