3C09 Optical Properties and Their External Field Effect in Synthetic Opal and Inverted Opal Infiltrated with Liquid Crystal

Abstract

We have made synthetic film opals using sedimentation or self-assembly on a meniscus of colloidal suspension of SiO_2 spheres and polystyrene spheres in submicron diameters. We have also fabricated a polymer inverted opal (PIO) and titan dioxide inverted opal (TIO) by using a synthetic opal as a template. Nematic, smectic, and ferroelectric liquid crystals have been infiltrated into these three-dimensional periodic structures. These systems responded optically to external fields and can be expected as a prototype tunable photonic crystal.