Abstract
Colloidal suspensions of highly charged, monodisperse polystyrene spheres can be made to crystallise under appropriate conditions of charge, fill fraction, counterion concentration, and temperature. These colloidal crystals can conveniently be arranged to have lattice parameters comparable to optical wavelengths. The colloid, which is initially opaque, forms iridescent randomly orientated crystallites. Clear large single crystals can be encouraged to form by slight agitation of the cell. When the crystal is illuminated with a coherent beam we expect only to see scattering in Bragg directions. However, scattering at crystal defects causes a diffuse scattered background. This background is patterned with dark rings formed from strong scattering out of directions where the Bragg resonances occur. These dark rings can be interpreted as partial photonic bandgaps in the Bragg directions within the crystal.
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© 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Cameron, C.E., Rarity, J.G., Roberts, P.J., Tapster, P.R. (1996). Partial Photonic Band Gaps at Bragg Directions in Polystyrene Colloidal Crystals. In: Rarity, J., Weisbuch, C. (eds) Microcavities and Photonic Bandgaps: Physics and Applications. NATO ASI Series, vol 324. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0313-5_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0313-5_25
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6626-6
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