Temperature and voltage dependent optical properties of conducting polymer in synthetic opal as photonic crystal

Conducting polymers can be infiltrated into a nanoscale interconnected regular array of voids in synthetic opal. The optical properties such as transmission and reflection spectra of the synthetic opal infiltrated with conducting polymers have been found to change drastically by changing temperature and voltage. Their mechanism is interpreted to be based on the temperature dependence of refractive index associated with the thermochromism and electrochemial doping in conducting polymers. In this synthetic opal infiltrated with conducting polymers, the optical properties have been confirmed to be tunable by adjusting various conditions such as temperature and applied voltage.