What is a photonic crystal?

Photonic crystals, also known as photonical bandgap materials, are periodic nanostructures that can selectively control wavelengths of light in almost the same way as semiconductors on a computer chip selectively released through certain electronic energy belts. The term "Bandgap" only refers to the gaps in the spectral band of the light that passes. For example, the rainbow lacks the bandwidth because the water is transparent and does not absorb any specific frequency. The rainbow passing through a photonic crystal would have selective gaps depending on the specific nanostructure in the crystal.

There are several natural materials that approach the structure of the photonic crystal. One of them is Opal Gemstone. Its rainbow iris is caused by periodic nanostructures inside. The periodicity of the nanostructure determines which wavelength of light is allowed and which are not. The period of the structure must be half the wavelength of the light, which has been APROOD. Wavelengths allowed pThe rose is known as "modes", while the forbidden wavelengths are gaps of photonic zones. Opal is not a real photonic crystal because it lacks a complete gap in the zone, but for the purposes of this article it is closely closely closely.

Another naturally occurring material that includes a photonic crystal is the wings of some butterflies like Rod Morpho. This leads to a beautiful blue rainbow wing.

Photonic crystals were first studied by the famous British scientist Lord Raleigh in 1887. Synthetic one -dimensional photonic crystal called Bragg Mirror was the subject of his studies. Although the Bragg mirror itself is a two -dimensional surface, it produces the band gap effect in only one dimension. These were used to produce reflective coatings, where the reflective belt corresponds to the gap of the photonic zone.

a hundred years later, in 1987, Eli Yablonovitch and Suev John suggested the possibility of two -dimensionalOr three -dimensional photonic crystals that would produce gaps of the bands in several different directions at once. It was quickly aware that such materials would have numerous applications in optics and electronics such as LED, optical fiber, nanoscopic lasers, Ultrawhite pigment, radio antennas and reflectors, and even optical computers. Research of photonic crystals is underway.

One of the biggest challenges in the research of photonical crystals is the small size and accuracy needed to create a band gap effect. Synthetic crystals with period nanostructures is quite difficult in current production technologies such as photolithography. 3-D Photonic crystals were designed, but were only made on an extremely limited scale. Perhaps with the advent of from bottom to top or molecular nanotechnology, mass production of these crystals will become possible.