Three Dimensional Photonic Crystals in the Visible Regime

dimensional photonic bandgap structures working in the visible have been given increasing attention in recent years encouraged by the possibility to control, modify or confine electromagnetic waves in all three dimensions, since this could have considerable impact on novel passive and active optical devices and systems. Although substantial progress has been made in the fabrication of 3D Photonic crystals by means of nano-lithography and nanotechnol- ogy, it still remains a challenge to fabricate these crystals with feature sizes of the half of the wavelength in the visible. Self-assembling of colloidal particles is an alternative method to prepare 3-dimensional photonic crystals. The aim of this article is to show how to use col- loidal crystals as templates for photonic crystals and how to monitor the changes of their optical properties due course of the modification.