• Photonics Research
  • Vol. 5, Issue 3, 201 (2017)
Jing Liu1 and Zhi-Yuan Li1、2、*
Author Affiliations
  • 1Key Laboratory of Optical Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  • 2School of Physics and Optoelectronics, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
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    DOI: 10.1364/PRJ.5.000201 Cite this Article Set citation alerts
    Jing Liu, Zhi-Yuan Li. Light-driven crystallization of polystyrene micro-spheres[J]. Photonics Research, 2017, 5(3): 201 Copy Citation Text show less

    Abstract

    We investigate the dynamic crystallization processes of colloidal photonic crystals, which are potentially invaluable for solving a number of existing and emerging technical problems in regards to controlled fabrication of crystals, such as size normalization, stability improvement, and acceleration of synthesis. In this paper, we report systematic high-resolution optical observation of the spontaneous crystallization of monodisperse polystyrene (PS) micro-spheres in aqueous solution into close-packed arrays in a static line optical tweezers. The experiments demonstrate that the crystal structure is mainly affected by the minimum potential energy of the system; however, the crystallization dynamics could be affected by various mechanical, physical, and geometric factors. The complicated dynamic transformation process from 1D crystallization to 2D crystallization and the creation and annihilation of dislocations and defects via crystal relaxation are clearly illustrated. Two major crystal growth modes, the epitaxy growth pattern and the inserted growth pattern, have been identified to play a key role in shaping the dynamics of the 1D and 2D crystallization process. These observations offer invaluable insights for in-depth research about colloidal crystal crystallization.
    Jing Liu, Zhi-Yuan Li. Light-driven crystallization of polystyrene micro-spheres[J]. Photonics Research, 2017, 5(3): 201
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