Modified Spontaneous Emission of Organic Molecules In-Filled in Inverse Opals

Inverse opals were prepared by replication of colloidal crystal templates made from silica spheres 298 nm in diameter. The air between the silica spheres was filled with the mixture of the monomer poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and the organic molecule Alq3 that can be subsequently polymerized. After removing the silica sphere templates, the photonic bandgap effect on the spontaneous emission of Alq3 were investigated. The dip in the fluorescence spectrum was interpreted in terms of redistribution of the photon density of states in the photonic crystal.