Colloidal crystals with diamond symmetry at optical lengthscales.
Colloidal crystals with diamond symmetry at optical lengthscales.
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DOI：
10.1038/ncomms14173
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发表时间：
2017-02-13
影响因子：
16.6
通讯作者：
Crocker JC
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Wang Y;Jenkins IC;McGinley JT;Sinno T;Crocker JC
未来的光学材料对于光子学的作用就像半导体对于电子学的作用一样，但长期以来的挑战在于创造它们所需的结构——规则的、三维的透明微球阵列，排列得像钻石晶体中的原子一样。在这里，我们展示了一种自发生长含有合适金刚石结构的双金刚石（或 B32）晶体的简单方法，使用 DNA 指导自组装过程。虽然金刚石对称晶体是由更小的纳米颗粒生长而成，但以前的方法都不足以满足光子应用所需的较大颗粒，其尺寸必须与可见光的波长相当。有趣的是，我们观察到的晶体在之前经过验证的模拟中并不容易形成。理论上也没有预测到它们。这一发现表明，使用这种方法可以实现其他意想不到的微结构，并预示着未来为一系列光子应用廉价大规模生产超材料的努力。以金刚石晶格排列的胶体晶体对于光子应用来说是理想的，但制造起来却具有挑战性。在这里，王等人。显示了由两个互锁的金刚石结构组成的二元系统的自组装，其晶格间距与可见光的波长相当。
Future optical materials promise to do for photonics what semiconductors did for electronics, but the challenge has long been in creating the structure they require—a regular, three-dimensional array of transparent microspheres arranged like the atoms in a diamond crystal. Here we demonstrate a simple approach for spontaneously growing double-diamond (or B32) crystals that contain a suitable diamond structure, using DNA to direct the self-assembly process. While diamond symmetry crystals have been grown from much smaller nanoparticles, none of those previous methods suffice for the larger particles needed for photonic applications, whose size must be comparable to the wavelength of visible light. Intriguingly, the crystals we observe do not readily form in previously validated simulations; nor have they been predicted theoretically. This finding suggests that other unexpected microstructures may be accessible using this approach and bodes well for future efforts to inexpensively mass-produce metamaterials for an array of photonic applications. Colloidal crystals arranged in a diamond lattice are desirable for photonic applications, yet are challenging to create. Here, Wang et al. show the self-assembly of a binary system composed of two interlocked diamond structures with lattice spacing comparable to the wavelength of visible light.