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Nature Photonics 2, 9–11 (1 January 2008) | doi:10.1038/nphoton.2007.258

Photonic Crystals: Acclaimed defects

Chih-Hung Sun & Peng Jiang

Defect engineering is crucial for realizing all-optical integrated circuits from self-assembled photonic crystals. A two-photon polymerization strategy paves the way towards incorporation of arbitrary defects in silicon inverse opal photonic crystals. Photonic crystals are periodic dielectric structures that prevent the propagation of electromagnetic waves within a select band of frequencies (the photonic bandgap). Colloidal particles can spontaneously form such crystalline structures, a process that has occurred in nature for millions of years and results in the growth of gemstone opals.