Patent ID: 7826131

Claim:
A tunable photonic crystal device comprising: a working electrode and a counter electrode forming a cell space there between; a conductive solution filling the cell space, the conductive solution comprising charged particles and a solvent; and a wavelength tunable photonic crystal film in the cell space, the film comprising: an ordered array of first constituents having a first refractive index embedded within a polymer network having a second refractive index different than the first refractive index, the ordered array of first constituents having a lattice spacing giving rise to a reflected wavelength, the polymer network being expandable and contractible in response to controlled uptake and expulsion, respectively, of at least one of the charged particles and the solvent by the polymer network, the reflected wavelength being dependent on the lattice spacing and the lattice spacing being tunable by expansion and contraction of the polymer network, the amount of uptake and expulsion of at least one of the charged particles and the solvent being tunable by controlling an electronic configuration of the polymer network; the device being adapted to be connected to an electrical source for applying an electrical potential between the working and the counter electrodes to control the electronic configuration of the polymer network.