Photonic crystals fabricated by block copolymerization-induced microphase separation

Motokawa, Ryuhei   ; Taniguchi, Tatsuo*; Kumada, Takayuki   ; Iida, You*; Aoyagi, Shota*; Sasaki, Yusuke*; Kori, Michinari*; Kishikawa, Keiki*

We present a method for fabricating photonic crystals (PCs) by polymerization-induced microphase separation of block copolymers (BCPs). Molecular weight of BCP for PCs is so large that it has been difficult for conventional solution casting and annealing methods to complete the microphase separation to form periodically-ordered submicron structures. Our method overcomes the difficulty by inducing the micro phase separation and transitions during the polymerization, when the molecular weight of the BCPs is small enough for the microphase separation and transitions. The microphase-separated structure is then enlarged while maintaining the self-similarity. We succeeded in fabricating PCs with reflection wavelength m 1000 nm and a full width at half maximum = 0.05 m by living-radical bulk block-copolymerization of poly(methyl methacrylate)-block-polystyrene.