There is however, great potential to employ these self-assembling molecules for use in high tech. For example, recent work has demonstrated that these materials may serve as templates for nanofabrication, or as waveguides, filters etc. In general, block copolymers with specific optical and electrical characteristics can be designed using synthetic approaches.
Photonic crystals are structures with a periodic variation of refractive index.
For light of the appropriate frequency, such crystals can be used to bend and steer the light, opening up many possible applications such as broad band low loss waveguides for communication and efficient laser mirrors. Recent work has introduced self-assembly as a method to make photonic crystals with periodicities suitable for frequencies in the visible part of the spectrum. Materials typically used include colloidal crystal arrays, artificial opals and inverse opals and hollow spherical micelles. Another approach is to use self assembling block copolymers as a materials platform. There are several essential challenges to overcome in order to achieve desirable photonic crystal properties employing block copolymers.