Dye-Polymer–Opal Composites as Photonic Crystals

We have fabricated a polymeric photonic crystal by impregnating an opal with a Coumarin 6 dye-containing polymer which was subsequently polymerised inside the opal to form a dye-polymer–opal composite. A strong spectral redistribution of the luminescence properties of the composite has been found by angle resolved photoluminescence measurements. The emission spectrum shows a marked distortion compared with a dye-polymer reference sample, which changes with the rotation of the crystal due to the angular dispersion of the stop band. At the maximum of the dye-emission band a strong directionality of the photoluminescence recorded from the back surface was found.