Photonic glass: a novel random material for light
Published in Advanced Materials 19, 2597, 2007
In this publication, the realization of photonic glasses, a new photonic material consisting of a solid random distribution of monodisperse spheres, is presented. in particular, two types of ways of obtaining this material are described in detail. The first, based on colloidal charge interaction, provides very thick and completely random samples that can also be used as templates to grow materials with a higher refractive index, such as ZnO or Si. These samples can be a perfect playground for investigating light propagation in resonant random media, random laser, and Anderson localization. The second method, based on binary colloidal suspension and selective etching, provides disordered thin films made by vertical deposition. This method can also be used for controlled vacancy doping colloidal photonic crystals, which can be a perfect model for the investigation of the role of disordered periodic photon lattices.