Method and apparatus for fabrication of large three-dimensional single colloidal crystals for bragg diffraction of infrared light

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12487396-B2
Application number	US-202318192833-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2023
Priority date	Jun 1, 2022
Publication date	Dec 2, 2025
Grant date	Dec 2, 2025

Abstract

A three-dimensional Bragg grating may include a single colloidal crystal that includes a plurality of repeated layers of material having different refractive indexes. A sample cell for producing a volume Bragg grating may include an internal shape that forms at least one capillary cell having a flat surface and rounded edges. A method of producing a three-dimensional Bragg grating may include: suspending insoluble particles in a host fluid to form a suspension; and exposing the suspension to a sustained microgravity environment.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A three-dimensional Bragg grating, comprising:
a single colloidal crystal that:
includes periodic particles and interstitial material, and
due to having been grown in a micro-gravity environment:
is topological defect free; and
lacks a high-density glass phase.

2 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the periodic particles are formed from fluorescent poly ethyl methacrylate.

3 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the single colloidal crystal is a Face Centered Cubic crystal.

4 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the three-dimensional Bragg grating is a volume Bragg grating, and has a volume on the order of millimeters cubed.

5 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the periodic particles are micron-sized spheres.

6 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 5 , wherein the micron-sized spheres have a particle size variation of less than 5%.

7 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 5 , further comprising:
at least one stabilization layer or coating configured to stabilize the micron-sized spheres against aggregation.

8 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 7 , wherein the at least one stabilization layer or coating is formed from a graft copolymer including an insoluble anchor group and soluble side chains.

9 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the single colloidal crystal lacks dendritic growth instabilities.

10 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the single colloidal crystal has a lateral dimension of about 100 microns and a volume of about 20 mm{circumflex over ( )}3.

11 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the single colloidal crystal has a volume with:
a first dimension on the order of tens of millimeters; a second dimension on the order of millimeters; and a third dimension on the order of tenths of millimeters.

12 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the single colloidal crystal has dimensions of 27 mm×1.5 mm×0.15 mm.

13 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the interstitial material includes air, such that the single colloidal crystal is a direct lattice.

14 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the periodic particles are configured to be dissolvable such that the interstitial material is configured to form a back-filled or inverse lattice.

15 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 14 , wherein the interstitial material includes TiO 2 .

16 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the single colloidal crystal has been solidified or crosslinked with a solvent.

17 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 16 , wherein the single colloidal crystal further includes a photocross-linker incorporated into constituent polymer chains.

18 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the single colloidal crystal is configured to withstand about 6g's of gravity acceleration.

19 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the single colloidal crystal is a photonic crystal.

20 . The three-dimensional Bragg grating of claim 1 , wherein the single colloidal crystal has a bandgap in the infrared range.

Assignees

• NanoRacks LLC
• New Jersey Inst Technology
• Univ New York
• Univ Space Research Association
• Nano Racks Llc

Inventors

• Murphy Mary
• Lei Qian
• Khusid Boris
• Hollingsworth Andrew D
• Chaikin Paul
• Meyer William V

Classifications

• G02B6/02123

  characterised by the method of manufacture of the grating (photolithography G03F7/0005) · CPC title

• G02B6/02171 Primary

  characterised by means for compensating environmentally induced changes · CPC title

• G02B1/005 Primary

  made of photonic crystals or photonic band gap materials (photonic band-gap structures or photonic lattices in integrated optics G02B6/1225; photonic band-gap structures or photonic lattices in optical fibres G02B6/02295) · CPC title