Self-assembled photonic crystal waveguides

Self-assembled opal-clad waveguides with pseudophotonic bandgap (pseudo-PBG) at the fiber communication wavelength have been fabricated. For the opal cladding, high-quality colloidal silica spheres were coated on a rib-type waveguide. Theoretical and experimental results show that a pseudo-PBG exists near 1532-nm wavelength, where 10-μm-wide waveguides have a propagation loss of 36.1 dB/cm.