Polymer-based photonic crystals.

A review, with 28 refs., on the development of polymers as 1D photonic crystals with focus on self-assembled block copolymers. The use of plasticizer and homopolymer blends of diblock copolymers to increase periodicity and the role of self-assembly in producing 2D and 3D photonic crystals are discussed. The use of inorg. nanoparticles to increase the dielec. contrast and of a biasing field during self-assembly to control the long-range domain order and orientation are outlined. In-situ tunable materials fabricated via a mechanochromic materials system are also described. The inherent optical anisotropy of extruded polymer films and side-chain liq.-cryst. polymers provides flexibility for novel optical designs. [on SciFinder(R)]