Abstract

Photonic Crystals are an emerging class of material and offer important applications to integrated optics and photonics. Such crystals consist of an arrangement of dielectric material having spatial periodicity on the scale of optical wavelengths, and can exhibit unique optical phenomena such as a full-photonic bandgap. Self-assembled colloidal crystals, commonly referred to as “opals”, present a facile and inexpensive route to the fabrication of 3-D photonic crystals. Yet, while bulk, monolithic opals can be readily produced and offer a scientifically interesting material for study, extrinsic defects need to be deliberately introduced into the lattice to create photonic functionality. A method to produce robust linear extrinsic defects into colloidal crystals, which can potentially serve as low-loss optical waveguides, will be presented. Also, an analysis of stacking faults, a commonly occurring intrinsic defect, will also be outlined. A mechanism for the formation of stacking faults in opal films is found to be similar to one operating on the atomic scale.