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Complex disordered photonic architectures by self-assembly

Exploring new approaches for the synthesis of disordered photonic materials

Over the last decade, there has been a paradigm shift in the field of photonic materials. While the focus was for a long time on crystalline photonic structures, it was shown by several groups, theoretically, numerically, and partly experimentally, that disordered but highly correlated structures can also display a photonic bandgap as well as non-iridescent structural colors. Systems such as 3D hyperuniform network materials, 2D, and 1D assemblies of scatterers have been studied as a proof of concept and to establish the field. In Phase 2, we studied disordered finite-sized assemblies of dielectric spheres and developed conceptual advances to tune the scattering properties of such photonic balls in the context of possible applications as colorants. In Phase 3, we seek to optimize the design of disordered bulk photonic materials via self-assembly.

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