A method for the fabrication of opal films between parallel transparent electrodes is described. Monodispersed particles are assembled by taking advantage of the rheological force induced by the evaporation of a solvent in a thin capillary cell. Three-dimensional opal films with controllable thickness could be fabricated, in which a regular hexagonal arrangement of particles parallel to the substrates over a large area was observed. Such a sandwich-like photonic device may find applications in fabricating electrically tunable photonic crystals.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Gu et al. (2001) studied this question.