{"73841":{"#nid":"73841","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Tech Gets $4.16 M to Create Photonic Crystal Tools","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPhotonic crystals, with highly periodic structures that can be designed to control light, have the potential to revolutionize everything from computing to communications. But researchers need more effective and affordable methods to create these promising crystals if they are going to find their way into personal computers or tiny sensors.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Georgia Institute of Technology has been awarded a grant totaling $4.16 million for photonic and phononic (the photonic crystal\u0027s acoustic equivalent) crystal research by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The grant also includes a two-year option for an additional $2.75 million. The new research group, led by Ali Adibi, an associate professor in Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, will develop very effective, yet relatively inexpensive tools for the manufacture of three-dimensional (3-D) photonic and phononic crystals.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile significant progress has been made in the large-scale fabrication of two-dimensional (2-D) photonic crystals, 3-D crystals are much more difficult to manufacture and the necessary tools are expensive. With extra dimensions of control, 3-D crystals produce effects that are impossible with conventional optics.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut because of the high cost of manufacturing tools, many researchers don\u0027t have the tools they need to experiment with different 3-D crystal structures and uses. The Georgia Tech group\u0027s goal is to develop new 3-D crystal fabrication tools affordable enough to make them accessible to a much wider range of researchers, stepping up crystal research and increasing the possibility for innovation.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe new tools will be based on optical patterning of 3-D polymeric structures with chemical and biochemical modification to create high-quality photonic and phononic crystals with tailored functions and resolutions below 100 nanometers.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA portion of the group\u0027s research will focus on multiphoton lithography (MPL) and multibeam interference lithography (MBIL). These polymer micropatterning methods show great potential for efficient and low-cost creation of 3-D microstructures. Other research focus areas include the development of an expanded range of materials for computer structures, the development of tools that integrate the characteristics of biomaterialization (room temperature, chemically selective nanoparticle assembly) with those of synthetic polymer microlithography (precise scalable fabrication of controlled 2-D and 3-D structures), and simulation and characterization tools to test the strengths and weaknesses of each tool.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EKey collaborators on the project, called APEX (Advanced Processing-tools for Electromagnetic\/acoustic Xtals or crystals), include Joseph Perry and Seth Marder, professors in Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Kenneth Sandhage, professor in Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Materials Science and Engineering. Other research collaborators include William Hunt, a professor in Georgia Tech\u0027s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Nils Kr\u00f6ger, an assistant professor of Chemistry; Robert Norwood and Nasser Peyghambarian from the University of Arizona; and Shu Yang from the University of Pennsylvania. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I consider this the beginning of a great effort to expand our group into one of the most well-known centers for photonic crystal research,\u0022 Adibi said.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Georgia Tech has received a $4.16 million grant to develop new tools for making photonic and phononic crystals. The new tools would allow a larger number of researchers to make and experiment with the crystals.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Tools will allow more researchers to make crystals"}],"uid":"27281","created_gmt":"2005-09-08 00:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:02:27","author":"Lisa Grovenstein","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2005-09-08T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2005-09-08T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"73842":{"id":"73842","type":"image","title":"Ali Adibi","body":null,"created":"1449178020","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:27:00","changed":"1475894681","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:41"}},"media_ids":["73842"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003ELisa Grovenstein\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=lgrovenste3\u0022\u003EContact Lisa Grovenstein\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-894-8835\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["lisa.grovenstein@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}