# US 2012/0237672 A1 · Method for Tuning Photonic Crystal

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- Number: US 2012/0237672 A1
- Document ID: US20120237672A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/234,384
- Filed: 2011-09-16
- Published: 2012-09-20
- Earliest claimed: 2011-03-17
- Assignees: Jer-Liang Yeh
- Inventors: Jer-Liang Yeh; Chia-Tsung Chan
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20120237672A1

## CPC

- G02B 6/1225: {comprising photonic band-gap structures or photonic lattices}
- B82Y 20/00: Nanooptics, e.g. quantum optics or photonic crystals
- G02B: OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
- B82Y: SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES

## Abstract

The present invention is to provide a method for tuning photonic crystal. The photonic crystal has a plurality of voids and is immersed in a predetermined liquid. The predetermined liquid has a refractive index. The method for tuning photonic crystal is used to control the liquid-solid affinity for adjusting the volume of the voids occupied by the predetermined liquid. An equivalent refractive index of the voids can be changed to adjust the reflection spectrum of the photonic crystal. The reflective color of the photonic crystal can be dynamically tuned.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for tuning a photonic crystal, wherein the photonic crystal has a plurality of voids and is immersed in a predetermined liquid, the predetermined liquid has a refractive index, the method for tuning the photonic crystal is used to control a liquid-solid affinity for adjusting a volume of the voids occupied by the predetermined liquid, an equivalent refractive index of the voids can be changed to adjust a reflection spectrum and a transmission spectrum of the photonic crystal accordingly.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 1, wherein the predetermined liquid can be a first liquid or a second liquid, the method for tuning the photonic crystal comprises the following steps of:
(S1) forming a plurality of flow channels from the plurality of voids of the photonic crystal and forming a hydrophobic layer or a hydrophilic layer from each surface of each void;
(S2) immersing the photonic crystal in the first liquid; and
(S3) replacing the first liquid by the second liquid and letting the photonic crystal be immersed in the second liquid.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 2, wherein a surface tension of the first liquid is different from a surface tension of the second liquid.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 3, wherein the first liquid and the second liquid can be a binary liquid mixture with different mass percentage concentrations individually.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 4, wherein the first liquid and the second liquid can be an alcoholic aqueous solution with different mass percentage concentrations individually.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 5, wherein the first liquid can be an ethanol-water mixture with 30% mass concentration, the second liquid can be an ethanol-water mixture with 95% mass concentration.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 6, wherein in the step (S2), if the photonic crystal is immersed in the ethanol-water mixture with 30% mass concentration, the ethanol-water mixture cannot penetrate into the plurality of voids, in the step (S3), if the photonic crystal is immersed in the ethanol-water mixture with 95% mass concentration, the ethanol-water mixture can penetrate into the plurality of voids.

### Claim 8 (depends on 2)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 2, wherein each void is a nanoscale void, each flow channel is a nanoscale flow channel.

### Claim 9 (depends on 2)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 2, wherein the hydrophobic layer is a heptadecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrodecyltrichlorosilane self-assembled monolayer.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 9, wherein the heptadecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrodecyltrichlorosilane self-assembled monolayer is formed on the surface of each void by a molecular vapor deposition process.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 1, wherein the photonic crystal is a porous silicon-based photonic crystal.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 1, wherein the predetermined liquid can be a polar liquid or a nonpolar liquid.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 12, wherein the predetermined liquid can be waters, alcohols, colloids, surfactants or ionic liquids.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 1, wherein the photonic crystal is manufactured by a silicon material, a polymer material or a semiconductor material.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method for tuning the photonic crystal of claim 14, wherein the photonic crystal is manufactured by silicon, silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, titanium oxide, photoresist, polystyrene (PS) or polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA, acrylic).