Integration of photonic bandgap composites with piezoelectric actuators for rejection wavelength tuning

Abstract

Physically robust photonic bandgap (PBG) composites based on electrostatically stabilized polymeric colloidal particles are presented. The glass transition (T g )of the composites can be varied over a large temperature range through the selection of the monomer(s) used to fabricate the composite. Composites with a subambient T g exhibited a mechanochromic response and were integrated with a peizoelectric actuator to produce a prototype device which exhibited a fully reversible tunable rejection wavelength, capable of a ca. +/- 86 nm (172 nm full range)stop band shift.