Photonic crystals act as an advanced quantum and nonlinear optics tool for multi-crystal photonic devices, and they show excellent potential for micro- and nanophotonic systems. Although exciting progress has been witnessed in recent decades, the excessive dependence on visible light reflection and poor mechanical properties make it challenging to directly implement these materials in transparent precision optical equipment. Here, we report a convenient monolithic approach whereby transparent 3D photonic devices with outstanding mechanical properties were assembled from monodisperse nanosphere powder in a high elastic state. Based on Bragg's law, we regulate the optical band gap beyond visible light by controlling the size of the photonic crystal nanospheres. These polymer transparent optical devices exhibit some excellent performance characteristics including high transparency (89%), visible light selective transmission (400–800 nm) and excellent mechanical properties (hardness reaches 0.32 GPa). These properties enable 3D photonic crystal devices to be applied in transparent precision optical components such as the lenses of spectacles, microscopes, telescopes and endoscopes, industrial cameras and astronaut helmets. The work provides an exciting new fabrication route for 3D highly transparent polymer photonic crystal devices, which are difficult to access by simply using traditional methods.

中文翻译：

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通过在橡胶态下热成型，采用交联的纳米球的透明3D光子晶体器件具有出色的集成精度和机械性能

光子晶体是多晶光子设备的高级量子和非线性光学工具，它们在微和纳米光子系统中显示出极好的潜力。尽管近几十年来见证了令人兴奋的进步，但是对可见光反射的过度依赖和不良的机械性能使得直接在透明精密光学设备中实现这些材料具有挑战性。在这里，我们报告了一种方便的整体方法，该方法由具有高机械性能的透明3D光子器件由高弹性状态的单分散纳米球粉末组装而成。根据布拉格定律，我们通过控制光子晶体纳米球的尺寸来调节可见光以外的光学带隙。这些聚合物透明光学器件具有出色的性能特征，包括高透明度（89％），可见光选择性透射（400-800 nm）和出色的机械性能（硬度达到0.32 GPa）。这些特性使3D光子晶体设备可以应用于透明的精密光学组件中，例如眼镜，显微镜，望远镜和内窥镜，工业相机和宇航员头盔的镜头。这项工作为3D高度透明的聚合物光子晶体器件提供了令人兴奋的新制造途径，而这些光子晶体器件仅通过传统方法很难获得。这些特性使3D光子晶体设备可以应用于透明的精密光学组件中，例如眼镜，显微镜，望远镜和内窥镜，工业相机和宇航员头盔的镜头。这项工作为3D高度透明的聚合物光子晶体器件提供了令人兴奋的新制造路线，而这些光子晶体器件仅通过传统方法很难获得。这些特性使3D光子晶体设备可以应用于透明的精密光学组件中，例如眼镜，显微镜，望远镜和内窥镜，工业相机和宇航员头盔的镜头。这项工作为3D高度透明的聚合物光子晶体器件提供了令人兴奋的新制造路线，而这些光子晶体器件仅通过传统方法很难获得。