Novel electrical, optical and rheological properties of conducting polymer in liquids and solutions infiltrated in opals and inverse opals

Conducting polymers with highly extended /spl pi/-electron system in their main chains can be infiltrated into a nanoscale interconnected regular array of voids in synthetic opals either in solution or liquid states upon heating. Optical properties of opals and inverse opals such as transmission spectra and reflection spectra were found to change drastically upon infiltration of conducting polymer liquids or solutions. Amplified spontaneous emission, amplified resonant Raman line and multi-mode lasing were observed in opals infiltrated with conducting polymer solutions upon optical excitation.