3D Helix Engineering in Chiral Photonic Materials

Engineering the helical structure of chiral photonic materials in three dimensions remains a challenge. 3D helix engineered photonic materials are fabricated by local stratification in a photopolymerizable chiral nematic liquid crystal. The obtained chiral photonic materials reflect both handedness of circular polarized light and show super‐reflectivity. Simulations match the experimentally observed photonic properties and reveal a distorted helical structure. 3D engineered polymer films can be made that reflect both left‐ and right handed circular and linear polarized light dependent and exhibit a changing color contrast upon altering the polarization of incident light. Hence, these 3D engineered photonic materials are of interest for new and emerging applications ranging from anti‐counterfeit labels and data encryption to aesthetics and super‐reflective films.     

Silicon Inverse Opal—A Platform for Photonic Bandgap Research

This article focuses attention on recent research on the silicon inverse opal, the first self‐assembled or bottom–up synthetic photonic crystal to exhibit a complete photonic bandgap (PBG) at 1.5 μm^[1] in accordance with theoretical predictions.^[2] The silicon inverse opal has since proven to be a useful platform for assembling on‐chip films^[3] and in‐chip patterns,^[4] engineering extrinsic defects,^[5] mapping photon density of states,^[6] switching light with light, and inhibiting spontaneous emission.^[7] Also, new and exciting colloidal‐crystal‐based structures are being developed based on experimental and theoretical knowledge acquired for the synthesis of inverted silicon photonic crystals.^[8–10] It has also inspired the idea of the silicon inverse opal heterostructure, a theoretical construct that could enable an all‐optical microchip for single mode diffractionless waveguiding of light in air throughout a bandwidth of more than 70 nm at 1.5 μm.^[11]     

Modular Molecular Self‐Assembly for Diversified Chiroptical Systems

Bottom‐up multicomponent molecular self‐assembly is an efficient approach to fabricate and manipulate chiral nanostructures and their chiroptical activities such as the Cotton effect and circular polarized luminescence (CPL). However, the integrated coassembly suffers from spontaneous and inherent systematic pathway complexity with low yield and poor fidelity. Consequently, a rational design of chiral self‐assembled systems with more than two components remains a significant challenge. Herein, a modularized, ternary molecular self‐assembly strategy that generates chiroptically active materials at diverse hierarchical levels is reported. N‐terminated aromatic amino acids appended with binding sites for charge transfer and multiple hydrogen bonds undergo the evolution of supramolecular chirality with unique handedness and luminescent color, generating abundant CPL emission with high luminescence dissymmetry factor values in precisely controlled modalities. Ternary coassembly facilitates high‐water‐content hydrogel formation constituted by super‐helical nanostructures, demonstrating a helix to toroid topological transition. This discovery would shed light on developing complicated multicomponent systems in mimicking biological coassembly events.     

Visual Appearance of Chiral Nematic Cellulose‐Based Photonic Films: Angular and Polarization Independent Color Response with a Twist

Hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) is a biocompatible cellulose derivative capable of self‐assembling into a lyotropic chiral nematic phase in aqueous solution. This liquid crystalline phase reflects right‐handed circular polarized light of a specific color as a function of the HPC weight fraction. Here, it is demonstrated that, by introducing a crosslinking agent, it is possible to drastically alter the visual appearance of the HPC mesophase in terms of the reflected color, the scattering distribution, and the polarization response, resulting in an exceptional matte appearance in solid‐state films. By exploiting the interplay between order and disorder, a robust and simple methodology toward the preparation of polarization and angular independent color is developed, which constitutes an important step toward the development of real‐world photonic colorants.     

Pressure‐Responsive Hierarchical Chiral Photonic Aerogels

Pressure‐responsive chiral photonic aerogels are fabricated by combining liquid crystal self‐assembly and ice‐templating processes. The aerogels have a hierarchical structure in which the primary 2D chiral nematic structured walls of cellulose nanocrystals form ribbons that support a secondary 3D cellular network. Owing to the flexibility of the aerogels in solvent, the 3D structure of the aerogel can easily be transformed to a 2D structure by pressure‐induced rearrangement. The aerogels vary from white in color, which arises from light scattering, to a reflective photonic crystal displaying bright iridescent colors that depend on the immersed solvent. A solvent‐sensitive ink that shows quick color response to different solvents is designed using the pressure‐responsive photonic aerogel. This material demonstrates a new response mechanism for the design of smart and mechanoresponsive photonic materials.     

Endowing Perovskite Nanocrystals with Circularly Polarized Luminescence

Perovskite nanocrystals are attracting great interest due to their excellent photonic properties. Here, through a supramolecular self‐assembly approach, the perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) with a novel circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) are successfully endowed. It is found that the achiral perovskite NCs can coassemble with chiral gelator in nonpolar solvents, in which the gelator molecules modify the surface of the perovskite NCs. Through such cogelation, the molecular chirality can transfer to the NCs resulting in CPL signals with a dissymmetric factor (g_lum) up to 10^?3. Furthermore, depending on the molecular chirality of the gelator, the CPL sense can be selected and the mirror‐imaged CPL is obtained. Such gels can be further embedded into the polymer film to facilitate flexible CPL devices. It is envisaged that this approach will afford a new insight into the designing of the functional chiroptical materials.     

Microfluidics‐Assisted Assembly of Injectable Photonic Hydrogels toward Reflective Cooling

Development of fast curing and easy modeling of colloidal photonic crystals is highly desirable for various applications. Here, a novel type of injectable photonic hydrogel (IPH) is proposed to achieve self‐healable structural color by integrating microfluidics‐derived photonic supraballs with supramolecular hydrogels. The supramolecular hydrogel is engineered via incorporating β‐cyclodextrin/poly(2‐hydroxypropyl acrylate‐co‐N‐vinylimidazole) (CD/poly(HPA‐co‐VI)) with methacrylated gelatin (GelMA), and serves as a scaffold for colloidal crystal arrays. The photonic supraballs derived from the microfluidics techniques, exhibit excellent compatibility with the hydrogel scaffolds, leading to enhanced assembly efficiency. By virtue of hydrogen bonds and host–guest interactions, a series of self‐healable photonic hydrogels (linear, planar, and spiral assemblies) can be facilely assembled. It is demonstrated that the spherical symmetry of the photonic supraballs endows them with identical optical responses independent of viewing angles. In addition, by taking the advantage of angle independent spectrum characteristics, the IPH presents beneficial effects in reflective cooling, which can achieve up to 17.4 °C in passive solar reflective cooling. The strategy represents an easy‐to‐perform platform for the construction of IPH, providing novel insights into macroscopic self‐assembly toward thermal management applications.     

光子晶体应用于浓度检测的模拟研究

采用平面波展开法数值计算二维光子晶体在TE和TM偏振态下的带隙,给出了光子晶体中的禁带存在的理论依据,选择二维三角晶格光子晶体（GaAs）作为基底,在气孔内填充浓度为一定的待测溶液硫酸铜材料,计算温度为298K情况下介电常数在71．917～62．530变化时,光子晶体在不同偏振模式下的光子禁带结构,结果表明,以硫酸铜的水溶液作为空气圆孔中的介质材料,当溶液质量百分浓度不同时光子带隙（PBG）发生显著变化。     

Polarization characteristics of phase retardation defect mode lasing in polymeric cholesteric liquid crystals

We have studied the lasing characteristics of a dye-doped nematic layer sandwiched by two polymeric cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) films as photonic band gap (PBG) materials. The nematic layer acts as a defect layer, the anisotropy of which brings about the following remarkable optical characteristics: (1) reflectance in the PBG region exceeds 50% due to the retardation effect, being unpredictable from a single CLC film; (2) efficient lasing occurs either at the defect mode wavelength or at the photonic band edge; and (3) the lasing emission due to both the defect mode and the photonic band edge mode contains both right- and left-circular polarizations, while the lasing emission from a dye-doped single CLC layer with a left-handed helix is left-circularly polarized.     

Photonic Crystal Phosphors Integrated on a Blue LED Chip for Efficient White Light Generation

Following the proof‐of‐concept experiment in the unit structure level, photonic crystal (PhC) phosphors—structurally engineered phosphor materials based on the nanophotonics principles—are integrated with a blue light‐emitting diode (LED) chip to demonstrate a compact and efficient white light source. Red‐ or green‐emitting CdSe‐based colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are coated on a Si₃N₄ thin‐film grating to fabricate PhC phosphors. The underlying PhC structure is designed such that the photonic band‐edge modes at the zone center (k_∣∣ = 0) are tuned to the energy of the blue excitation photons. By progressively stacking the PhC phosphor plates on a blue LED chip, the blue, green, and red emission intensities can be tightly controlled to obtain white light with the desired properties. The chromaticity coordinates, (0.332, 0.341), and correlated color temperature, 5500 K, are obtained from a stack of 3 red and 11 green PhC phosphor plates; in contrast, a stack of 5 red and 16 green reference phosphor plates are required to generate a similar white light. Overall, the PhC phosphors produce 8% higher total emission intensity out of 33% less amount of CQDs than the reference phosphors.     

Suppression of radiative decay of CdTe quantum dots in a photonic crystal with a pseudogap

Abstract

Observation-angle dependence of the spontaneous emission life-time of CdTe quantum dots (QDs) embedded in a pseudogap photonic crystal (PC) film has been demonstrated. Comparison of two PC films with different photonic band-gaps (PBGs) differentiates the PBG effect from the electronic and/or chemical interactions between CdTe QDs and the host medium. This lifetime modification of QDs by a PC with pseudogap can be very useful in applications for optoelectronic devices such as QD lasers and QD switches.     

Controlling the Photonic Properties of Cholesteric Cellulose Nanocrystal Films with Magnets

The self‐assembly of cellulose nanocrystals is a powerful method for the fabrication of biosourced photonic films with a chiral optical response. While various techniques have been exploited to tune the optical properties of such systems, the presence of external fields has yet to be reported to significantly modify their optical properties. In this work, by using small commercial magnets (≈ 0.5–1.2 T) the orientation of the cholesteric domains is enabled to tune in suspension as they assemble into films. A detailed analysis of these films shows an unprecedented control of their angular response. This simple and yet powerful technique unlocks new possibilities in designing the visual appearance of such iridescent films, ranging from metallic to pixelated or matt textures, paving the way for the development of truly sustainable photonic pigments in coatings, cosmetics, and security labeling.     

Photon Upconverted Circularly Polarized Luminescence via Triplet–Triplet Annihilation

Circularly polarized luminescent materials are of increasing attention due to their potential applications in advanced optical technologies, such as chiroptical devices and optical sensing. Recently, in all reported circularly polarized luminescent materials, high‐energy excitation results in low‐energy or downconverted circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) emission. Although photon upconversion—i.e., the conversion of low‐energy light into higher‐energy emission, with a wide variety of applications—has been widely reported, the integration of photon upconversion and CPL in one chiral system to achieve higher‐energy CPL emission has never been reported. Herein, a brief review is provided of recent achievements in photon‐upconverted CPL via the triplet–triplet annihilation mechanism, focusing on the amplified dissymmetry factor g_lum through energy transfer process and dual upconverted and downconverted CPL emission through chirality and energy transfer process.     

Photonic and omnidirectional band gap engineering in stack of exponential graded index material and negative index material

We have investigated the photonic band gaps (PBG) and omnidirectional band gaps in one-dimensional photonic crystals made up of alternate layer of exponential graded index material and negative index material. We have considered the influence of material properties, geometrical parameters and material composition on the PBG and omnidirectional band gap. Results show that the parameters of exponential graded index material and negative index material can change the photonic and omnidirectional band structures remarkably. Number and bandwidth of PBG increases with increasing the negative index material layer thicknesses while thicknesses of graded index layer only have an effect on the bandwidth of PBGs. The bandwidth of PBG also depends on grading profile parameter of exponential graded index layers and bandwidth can be tuned with increase the value of grading profile parameter. This work can facilitate the design of filters and reflectors, and provide the basic understanding of the influence of graded index materials and metamaterials on the PBG properties.     

Photonic metamaterials: a new class of materials for manipulating light waves

Abstract

A decade of research on metamaterials (MMs) has yielded great progress in artificial electromagnetic materials in a wide frequency range from microwave to optical frequencies. This review outlines the achievements in photonic MMs that can efficiently manipulate light waves from near-ultraviolet to near-infrared in subwavelength dimensions. One of the key concepts of MMs is effective refractive index, realizing values that have not been obtained in ordinary solid materials. In addition to the high and low refractive indices, negative refractive indices have been reported in some photonic MMs. In anisotropic photonic MMs of high-contrast refractive indices, the polarization and phase of plane light waves were efficiently transformed in a well-designed manner, enabling remarkable miniaturization of linear optical devices such as polarizers, wave plates and circular dichroic devices. Another feature of photonic MMs is the possibility of unusual light propagation, paving the way for a new subfield of transfer optics. MM lenses having super-resolution and cloaking effects were introduced by exploiting novel light-propagating modes. Here, we present a new approach to describing photonic MMs definitely by resolving the electromagnetic eigenmodes. Two representative photonic MMs are addressed: the so-called fishnet MM slabs, which are known to have effective negative refractive index, and a three-dimensional MM based on a multilayer of a metal and an insulator. In these photonic MMs, we elucidate the underlying eigenmodes that induce unusual light propagations. Based on the progress of photonic MMs, the future potential and direction are discussed.     

Two‐Photon Up‐Conversion Photoluminescence Realized through Spatially Extended Gap States in Quasi‐2D Perovskite Films

A new approach to generate a two‐photon up‐conversion photoluminescence (PL) by directly exciting the gap states with continuous‐wave (CW) infrared photoexcitation in solution‐processing quasi‐2D perovskite films [(PEA)₂(MA)₄Pb₅Br₁₆ with n = 5] is reported. Specifically, a visible PL peaked at 520 nm is observed with the quadratic power dependence by exciting the gap states with CW 980 nm laser excitation, indicating a two‐photon up‐conversion PL occurring in quasi‐2D perovskite films. Decreasing the gap states by reducing the n value leads to a dramatic decrease in the two‐photon up‐conversion PL signal. This confirms that the gap states are indeed responsible for generating the two‐photon up‐conversion PL in quasi‐2D perovskites. Furthermore, mechanical scratching indicates that the different‐n‐value nanoplates are essentially uniformly formed in the quasi‐2D perovskite films toward generating multi‐photon up‐conversion light emission. More importantly, the two‐photon up‐conversion PL is found to be sensitive to an external magnetic field, indicating that the gap states are essentially formed as spatially extended states ready for multi‐photon excitation. Polarization‐dependent up‐conversion PL studies reveal that the gap states experience the orbit–orbit interaction through Coulomb polarization to form spatially extended states toward developing multi‐photon up‐conversion light emission in quasi‐2D perovskites.     

Analysis of the Filling Pattern Dependence of the Photonic Bandgap for Two-dimensional Systems

Abstract

We investigate in this paper different aspects of the absolute photonic bandgap (PBG) formation for a two-dimensional periodic dielectric structure. In particular we examine how the symmetry of the filling pattern in a periodic dielectric material influences the photonic gap parameters. We present the results of the calculations and discuss the existence of the absolute PBG, the maximization of its width as a function of the parameters of a two-dimensional dielectric crystal as well as the practical technological feasibility of these optimized structures.     

Nitride compounds as photonic crystals in the optical region

Usin the transfer matrix method we have studied the optical properties related to the photonic band gap (PBG) concept of the III-nitride family particularly InN and AlN. We have shown that these materials present, for a particular lattice constant and for the same structure, PBGs in all near infrared, optical and ultaviolet regions. In order to give optimal conditions for experiments, the number and the width of these PBGs are studied in more detail. The case of the absorption which occurs for the higher lattice parameter is discussed. This novel class of material opens up many potential applications. For example, PBG crystals can be used to inhibit spontaneous emission in photonic devices, leading to more efficient light emitters such as single-mode-light emitting diodes.     

Spontaneous and Induced Atomic Decay in Photonic Band Structures

Abstract

We present a comprehensive quantum electrodynamical analysis of the interaction between a continuum with photonic band gaps (PBGs) or frequency cut-off and an excited two-level atom, which can be either ‘bare’ or ‘dressed’ by coupling to a near-resonant field mode. A diversity of novel features in the atom and field dynamics is shown to arise from the non-Markovian character of radiative decay into such a continuum of modes. Firstly the excited atom is shown to evolve, by spontaneous decay, into a superposition of non-decaying single-photon dressed states, each having an energy in a different PBG, and a decaying component. This superposition is determined by the atomic resonance shift, induced by the spontaneously emitted photon, into or out of a PBG. The main novel feature exhibited by the decaying excited-state component is the occurrence of beats between the shifted atomic resonance frequency and the PBG cut-off frequencies, corresponding to a non-Lorentzian emission spectrum. Secondly the induced decay of a resonantly driven atom into such a continuum exhibits a cascade of transitions down the ladder of dressed states, which are labelled by decreasing photon numbers of the driving mode. Remarkably, this cascade is terminated at the dressed-state doublet, from which all subsequent transitions to lower doublets are forbidden because they fall within the PBG. This doublet then becomes an attractor state for the populations of higher-lying doublets. As a result, the photon-number distribution of the driving mode becomes strongly sub-Poissonian.     

Structural Color Palettes of Core–Shell Photonic Ink Capsules Containing Cholesteric Liquid Crystals

Photonic microcapsules with onion‐like topology are microfluidically designed to have cholesteric liquid crystals with opposite handedness in their core and shell. The microcapsules exhibit structural colors caused by dual photonic bandgaps, resulting in a rich variety of color on the optical palette. Moreover, the microcapsules can switch the colors from either core or shell depending on the selection of light‐handedness.