www.nanopicoftheday.org
November 14, 2003
Source: Sascha Klein, Fred Lange, and David Pine
References:
Description:
Pictured is a titanium dioxide microsphere (1-50 microns in diameter)
with (approximately) closed-packed spherical inclusions. These can be thought of
as small “photonic crystallites,” which are expected to scatter light very
efficiently. Sol-gel and hydrothermal techniques are used for the synthesis of
TiO2 for optical band gap materials.
Photonic crystals are
periodic dielectric structures that have a band gap that forbids propagation of
a certain frequency range of light, much like the energy gap in a semicondutor
prohibits certain electrons from moving through the crystal. This property
enables one to control light with amazing facility and produce effects that are
impossible with conventional optics.
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