Photonic polymer-blend structures and method for making

Abstract

The present invention comprises the formation of photonic polymer-blend structures having tunable optical and mechanical properties. The photonic polymer-blend structures comprise monomer units of spherical microparticles of a polymer-blend material wherein the spherical microparticles have surfaces partially merged with one another in a robust inter-particle bond having a tunable inter-particle separation or bond length sequentially attached in a desired and programmable architecture. The photonic polymer-blend structures of the present invention can be linked by several hundred individual particles sequentially linked to form complex three-dimensional structures or highly ordered two-dimensional arrays of 3D columns with 2D spacing.

Description

[0002] The present invention relates to the field of nanostructured polymer-blend composite materials, particular photonic polymer-blend structures having tunable optical and mechanical properties.[0003] Nanostructured polymer-blend or polymer-inorganic composite materials are the subject of intense and wide-spread interest as researchers pursue next-generation "soft-material" species with tunable properties. In particular, there continues to be strong interest in the complex mechanics of viscoelastic systems, droplet coalescence, behavior of polymer blends in shear fields, as well as in electrospinning of polymer nanofibers. There is limited literature on fabrication of semiconductor structures with similar functionality. The lithographic fabrication techniques are expensive, time-consuming, and require specialized hardware and expertise. Further, cryogenic temperatures are required to observe the desired optical coupling between components in the composite structure. The understan...

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Benefits of technology

[0005] It is another object of the present invention to provide photonic polymer-blend structures having tunable optical and mechanical properties.

[0018] The present invention comprises the formation of three-dimensional linear or branched chains of polymer-blend microspheres generated from liquid droplets of solution where the modified surface structure of the polymer composite results in highly robust inter-particle bonds. The present invention is based on a combination of particle manipulation techniques and a unique material property of a polymer blend material that allows highly spherical and homogeneous polymer-blend microspheres to be linked or "merged" together in a programmable manner to form three-dimensional strings or ordered vertical columns from the sequential attachment of the individual blend particles. This capability allows individual particles to retain their identity to a certain extent while coupling efficiently to its nearest neighbors in a variety of architectures. Robust particle linkage occurs as semi-dry polymer blend particles come in contact where the polymer mobility is sufficient to overcome the surface energy barrier to partially merge. The robust interlocking nature of the inter-particle bond or linkage gives rise to strongly coupled morphology-dependent resonances in bisphere and trisphere systems. These photonic molecules are mesoscopic heirachical structures constructed from monomer units with typical dimensions ranging from 1-10 .mu.m that function as coupled optical resonators. The monomer units are sufficiently homogeneous and spherical to support optical resonances that, owing to the large solid angle of intersection and size uniformity, are strongly coupled between particles. These structures are labeled as photonic molecules because they confine electromagnetic fields in modes that are closely analogous to bonding and anti-bonding electronic molecular orbitals in real molecules. The long-term stability and structural integrity of these species provides for interesting applications in three-dimensional conductive vertical wires / supports, sensor technologies, or microphotonics.

Problems solved by technology

There is limited literature on fabrication of semiconductor structures with similar functionality.

The lithographic fabrication techniques are expensive, time-consuming, and require specialized hardware and expertise.

Furthermore, while there is a great deal of interest currently in the field of "microphotonics", or manipulation, both in spatial and frequency dimensions, of photons for electro-optic device enhancement, wavelength division multiplexing applications and optical computing, there exists few new device strategies for overcoming the difficulties of highly specific frequency response / transmission characteristics, and spatial localization at or near diffraction-limited resolution.

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