Photonic Glass: A Novel Random Material for Light

TLDR

The study introduces a novel photonic material called photonic glass. Photonic glass is fabricated as a 3D disordered array of monodisperse dielectric spheres, with thin correlated films produced via vertical convective deposition and selective etching of binary colloidal suspensions. Monodispersity yields observable single‑sphere optical resonances, and thick uniform samples spanning tenths to millimetres can be produced by reducing inter‑sphere interactions.

Abstract

A new photonic material is presented: "photonic glass". This is a 3D completely disordered solid arrangement of monodisperse dielectric spheres (see figure). Monodispersity ensures single-sphere optical resonances to be observed. Very thick (from tenths to few millimetres) uniform samples can be grown by attenuating the inter-sphere interaction. Thin (correlated) disordered films can be grown by vertical convective deposition and selective etching of binary colloidal suspensions.