Article abstract


Nature Materials 5, 830 - 836 (2006)
doi:10.1038/nmat1727

Subject Categories: Colloids | Polymers | Nanoscale materials

Observation and tuning of hypersonic bandgaps in colloidal crystals

Wei Cheng1, Jianjun Wang1, Ulrich Jonas1, George Fytas1,2 and Nikolaos Stefanou3


Composite materials with periodic variations of density and/or sound velocities, so-called phononic crystals, can exhibit bandgaps where propagation of acoustic waves is forbidden. Phononic crystals are the elastic analogue of the well-established photonic crystals and show potential for manipulating the flow of elastic energy. So far, the experimental realization of phononic crystals has been restricted to macroscopic systems with sonic or ultrasonic bandgaps in the sub-MHz frequency range. In this work, using high-resolution Brillouin spectroscopy we report the first observation of a hypersonic bandgap in face-centred-cubic colloidal crystals formed by self-assembly of polystyrene nanoparticles with subsequent fluid infiltration. Depending on the particle size and the sound velocity in the infiltrated fluid, the frequency and the width of the gap can be tuned. Promising technological applications of hypersonic crystals, ranging from tunable filters and heat management to acousto-optical devices, are anticipated.

Top
  1. Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany
  2. Department of Materials Science and Technology and FORTH, 71110 Heraklion, Greece
  3. Section of Solid State Physics, University of Athens, 15784 Athens, Greece

Correspondence to: George Fytas1,2 e-mail: fytas@mpip-mainz.mpg.de

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Phononics Colloidal crystals go hypersonic

Nature Materials News and Views (01 Oct 2006)

Microscopy Brillouin bioimaging

Nature Photonics News and Views (01 Jan 2008)

See all 7 matches for News And Views

Extra navigation

Subscribe to Nature Materials

Subscribe

Open Innovation Challenges

  • Highly Charged Hydrogel without Ion Condensation

    • Deadline: Aug 24 2009
    • Reward: $50,000 USD

    The Seeker is looking for experimental ways to avoid ion condensation in highly charged, crosslinked...

  • Mitigating Zinc Corrosion

    • Deadline: Aug 23 2009
    • Reward: $20,000 USD

    The Seeker is looking for novel methods to mitigate zinc corrosion/gassing in alkaline media. This ...

naturejobs

  • Postdoctoral position in Neuroscience

    • Bioengineering Institute (University Miguel Hernández) and CIBER-BBN (Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine)
    • Elche, SPAIN
  • Director of NMR

    • New York Structural Biology Center
    • New York, New York

ADVERTISEMENT