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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Fabrication of Polymer Microspheres for Optical Resonator and Laser Applications
Published on: June 2, 2017
Photonic polymers:a new class of photonic wire structure from intersecting polymer-blend microspheres
Abstract:
We report a new kind of photonic wire structure made from the sequential attachment of polymer-blend microparticles. Using a linear quadrupole to manipulate the particles in space, we are able to take advantage of a modified surface structure in the blend particle to actively assemble particles in programmable two- or three-dimensional architectures. Strong resonance features in fluorescence are observed near the intersection of linked spheres that cannot be interpreted with a two-dimensional (equatorial plane) model. Three-dimensional ray optics calculations show long-lived periodic trajectories that propagate in great circles linked at an angle with respect to the plane containing the sphere centers.
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