Optically Tunable Gelled Photonic Crystal Covering Almost the Entire Visible Light Wavelength Region

By fixing charged colloidal crystals in a poly(acrylamide) hydrogel matrix, we fabricated photonic crystals whose diffraction peak wavelengths were tunable by applying mechanical stress. The reflection spectrum for a single crystal grain was measured by applying microspectroscopy under compression. The photonic band gap wavelength shifted linearly and reversibly over almost the entire visible light wavelength region (460−810 nm).