Three-dimensional microphotonic crystals of ZrO2 toughened Al2O3 for terahertz wave applications

This letter reports an approach, based on microstereolithography, to create three-dimensional photonic crystals of microscale structure made of ceramic-resin composite (before sintering) and dense ceramics (after sintering). For ZrO2 toughened Al2O3 ceramic-resin photonic crystals (with a lattice constant of 500μm), the forming resolution was around 10μm and the measured band gap appeared between 350 and 400GHz in the Γ-X ⟨100⟩ direction, 350 and 400GHz in the Γ-K ⟨110⟩ direction, and 270 and 360GHz in the Γ-L ⟨111⟩ direction. After sintering, the lattice constant shrunk to 380μm and the band gap was between 320 and 420GHz in the Γ-X ⟨100⟩ direction, 330 and 400GHz in the Γ-K ⟨110⟩ direction, and 260 and 355GHz in the Γ-L ⟨111⟩ direction.

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