Objective Photonic crystals can manipulate light and therefore they are believed to switch from laboratory obscurities to innovative basic materials for industrial scale products (new color effect pigments, thresholdless lasers, beam converters, and filters, e.g.). But only three-dimensional photonic crystals can show complete photonic behavior towards light of every direction and polarization. Thus, there is a great demand for such high-tech materials in industry and research, too. Generally, three-dimensional photonic crystals are synthesized in long-duration sedimentation process. In our project "Development of colloidal crystals supraparticles with photonic behavior (PHOTECOS)" we will improve the first successful attempts of synthesizing three-dimensional photonic crystals in our labs towards reproducibility, performance, and tuning of the optical properties. The advantage of our approach against common long-term sedimentation process is the ultra-fast production time: by spraying a dispersion of monodispersed (silica) particles on a surface, the solvent of the drops will be evaporated and the spheres will be arranged in close packings due to capillary forces resulting in a so-called photonic supraparticle. Fields of science natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeologysedimentologyengineering and technologymaterials engineeringcolorsnatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physics Programme(s) FP5-HUMAN POTENTIAL - Programme for research, technological development and demonstration on "Improving the human research potential and the socio-economic knowledge base" (1998-2002) Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme BUR - Bursaries, grants, fellowships Coordinator MERCK KGAA EU contribution No data Address Frankfurter Strasse 250 64271 DARMSTADT Germany See on map Total cost No data
