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Fabrication of photonic crystals for the visible spectrum by holographic lithography

Abstract

The term ‘photonics’ describes a technology whereby data transmission and processing occurs largely or entirely by means of photons. Photonic crystals are microstructured materials in which the dielectric constant is periodically modulated on a length scale comparable to the desired wavelength of operation. Multiple interference between waves scattered from each unit cell of the structure may open a ‘photonic bandgap’—a range of frequencies, analogous to the electronic bandgap of a semiconductor, within which no propagating electromagnetic modes exist1,2,3. Numerous device principles that exploit this property have been identified4,5,6,7,8. Considerable progress has now been made in constructing two-dimensional structures using conventional lithography3, but the fabrication of three-dimensional photonic crystal structures for the visible spectrum remains a considerable challenge. Here we describe a technique—three-dimensional holographic lithography—that is well suited to the production of three-dimensional structures with sub-micrometre periodicity. With this technique we have made microperiodic polymeric structures, and we have used these as templates to create complementary structures with higher refractive-index contrast.

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Figure 1: Calculated constant-intensity surfaces in four-beam laser interference patterns designed to produce photonic crystals for the visible spectrum from photoresist.
Figure 2: Beam geometry for an f.c.c. interference pattern.
Figure 3: SEM images of photonic crystals generated by holographic lithography.
Figure 4: Three-dimensional reconstruction of the surface of an f.c.c. photonic crystal.
Figure 5: Angular dependence of the intensity of monochromatic light (wavelength, 633 nm) transmitted by the polymeric photonic crystal shown in Fig. 4.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. J. Wilkinson and the Department of Materials, University of Oxford, for use of scanning electron microscope facilities. This work was supported by the EPSRC/MOD/DERA Joint Grant Scheme, under the Microstructured Photonic Materials Initiative.

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Correspondence to A. J. Turberfield.

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Campbell, M., Sharp, D., Harrison, M. et al. Fabrication of photonic crystals for the visible spectrum by holographic lithography. Nature 404, 53–56 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35003523

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