Carbon Structures with Three-Dimensional Periodicity at Optical Wavelengths

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 282; no. 5390; pp. 897 - 901
• Main Authors: Zakhidov, Anvar A., Baughman, Ray H., Iqbal, Zafar, Cui, Changxing, Khayrullin, Ilyas, Dantas, Socrates O., Marti, Jordi, Ralchenko, Victor G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society for the Advancement of Science 30.10.1998; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Carbon; Crystal optics; Crystals; Cubic crystals; Glassy carbon; Graphite; Materials science; Opal; Opalescence; Optics; Periodicity; Photonics; Wavelengths
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5390.897

Porous carbons that are three-dimensionally periodic on the scale of optical wavelengths were made by a synthesis route resembling the geological formation of natural opal. Porous silica opal crystals were sintered to form an intersphere interface through which the silica was removed after infiltration with carbon or a carbon precursor. The resulting porous carbons had different structures depending on synthesis conditions. Both diamond and glassy carbon inverse opals resulted from volume filling. Graphite inverse opals, comprising 40-angstrom-thick layers of graphite sheets tiled on spherical surfaces, were produced by surface templating. The carbon inverse opals provide examples of both dielectric and metallic optical photonic crystals. They strongly diffract light and may provide a route toward photonic band-gap materials.