Enhancing the properties of some inverse opal metamaterials by the stopband control

Abstract

Abstract. The inverse opal structures present very good mechanical and optical properties, like high mechanical strength and Young modulus, important photoluminescence and stimulated Brillouin scattering. Enhancement of the optical properties of the metamaterials based on different types of inverse opal can be obtained by controlling the stopband of the 3D periodic structure. SiO2, TiO2 and CeO2 photonic crystals with inverse opal structures have been studied, presenting voids of 100 -280 nm. The stopband dependence on the physical and geometrical parameters of the matrix has been analyzed (ions nature, voids diameter, photoelastic constant). The study was performed by structural simulation methods, using the HFSS program. The test configuration was set for the visible light domain. The effective refraction index n and the stimulated Brillouin scattering coefficient gP have been determined and represented on parametrical graphs. Results were compared with the theoretic calculated values. By varying different structural parameters and the stopband control, superior values of the optical parameters have been obtained, in comparison with the data given in literature. We report an increasing of the photoluminescence with about 7%, respectively and enhancement of the stimulated Brillouin scattering coefficient of 11 % when parameters are correlated. Inverse opal metamaterialsThe inverse opal structures were demonstrated to present very good mechanical and optical properties, like high mechanical strength and Young modulus, important photoluminescence and stimulated Brillouin scattering. Due to their property of periodic modulation of the refraction index onside the material, the photonic crystals based on inverse opals are used for multiple applications. In optics and optoelectronics, devices based on stimulated Brillouin scattering with silicon, like Brillouin lasers and compact microwave signal processors have been realized. The (bio) sensors design and biological applications were another challenge using this type of materials. The inverse opal metamaterials are also used for the energy storage and communications, in solar cell *