When John Crocker, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science was a graduate student, his advisor gathered together everyone in his lab to "throw down the gauntlet" on a new challenge in the field.
Someone had predicted that if one could grow colloidal crystals that had the same structure as carbon atoms in a diamond structure, it would have special optical properties that could revolutionize photonics. In this material, called a photonic bandgap material, or PBM, light would act in a way mathematically analogous to how electrons move in a semi-conductor.
"The technological implication is that such materials would allow for the construction of 'transistors' for light, the ability to trap light at specific locations and build microcircuits for light and more efficient LEDs and lasers," Crocker said.
At the time, Crocker decided to pursue his own projects, leaving the pursuit of PBMs to others.
Twenty years later, Crocker's own graduate student Yifan Wang produced this elusive diamond structure while working on a different problem, serendipitously. This put them on the path to achieving PBMs, the "holy grail of directed particle self-assembly," Crocker said.
"It's a classic story of serendipity in scientific discovery. You can't anticipate these things. You just get lucky sometimes and something amazing comes out."
The research was led by Crocker, Wang, professor Talid Sinno of SEAS and graduate student Ian Jenkins. The results have been published in Nature Communications.
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