Engineering and characterizing light-matter interactions in photonic crystals

Photonic crystals can affect the behavior of visible light, and other electromagnetic waves, in ways that are not possible by other means. The propagation of photons can be completely forbidden or the the light can be made to follow a well- defined path. Fluorescent emission can be enhanced for some wavelengths or completely shut off for others, and it is possible to do all this simultaneously in a single structure. However, photonic crystals are very difficult to fabricate as they require precision patterning at sub-micron length scales. This fabrication difficulty has resulted in many of the potential applications for photonic crystals to currently be unrealized. Similarly, there is an abundance of opportunities to explore the workings of photonic crystals and also to develop exciting new methods for their fabrication. The content of this dissertation explores some methods for fabricating photonic crystals, including direct laser writing, interference lithography, colloidal deposition, and chemical vapor deposition. The angle-resolved characterization of photonic crystals is performed on fluorescent photonic crystals that exhibit uniquely photonic effects, which are explained with a simplified model of the electromagnetic wave-functions. Another model is shown to well-explain the emission from fluorescent photonic crystals that are not of sufficient quality to exhibit truly photonic effects. The ability to perform angle- resolved optical characterization is improved with a commercial 4-circle diffractometer. A method to determination the resulting structure of conformal deposition processes proves useful as a tool for the design, modeling, and characterization of photonic crystals. Finally, attempts are made to radically alter the emission of light from rare earth emitters embedded inside photonic crystals.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Materials Science & Engr

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2010

Author dc:creator

• Brzezinski, Andrew

Contributors dc:contributor

• Braun, Paul V.
• Wiltzius, Pierre
• Rogers, John A.
• Johnson, Harley T.

• Fluorescent photonic crystals
• Angle-resolved optical spectroscopy
• Atomic layer deposition

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2010 Andrew Brzezinski

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/16050

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/16050