Synthesis of thin film photonic crystals

We describe a synthesis procedure for fabricating thin film photonic crystals at optical length scales from a ceramic slurry of nanocrystalline titania and polystyrene spheres. Self assembly of the spheres is performed simultaneously with the introduction of the dielectric background. Thin film photonic crystals are grown on glass or semiconductor substrates. The photonic crystals are characterized with both surface and cross-sectional scanning electron microscope images. The photonic crystals exhibit a reflection peak and transmission dip at the wavelength of the first stop band.